Karkoo Nursery, set for sale to fund Blackwood Hub, will be allowed to stay until 2021
The owners of a high-profile Blackwood nursery have fronted a Mitcham Council meeting to plead for security as they go through “a very worrying time”.
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The popular Karkoo Nursery in Blackwood has been given a brief stay of execution as its owners face the site being sold by Mitcham Council.
And council staff have confirmed that about 150 complaints have been lodged over the proposed sale, which would help fund a planned $20 million Blackwood Hub.
A 4000-signature petition against the sale was presented to Mitcham Council on Tuesday night – and Karkoo Nursery owners Peter and Jane Rowat told councillors of their need for security.
The council has agreed to honour the nursery’s lease on the Main Road site until December 2021.
They have also agreed to help find them find another site in Blackwood should the property be sold and give them the opportunity to make a bid through public tender.
The council has included the $20 million Blackwood Hub – which would replace the current library and community centre – in its 2020/21 budget.
It would still require another $5 million of government funding – and the sale of the Karkoo site has been factored in as a funding measure.
Mr Rowat told the council his staff and customers were going through “a very worrying time” with a possible sale looming and they felt they had been treated unfairly.
“We are one of the few assets in the area and we feel the need for some security instead of the ongoing threat of losing the site to developers,” Mr Rowat said.
“We have also always been kept in the dark by council, only every hearing about our future second-hand from either the press or concerned customers.”
He said he knew taking on the site with a short lease was a “bit of a gamble” but believed the success of the business had proved its value to Blackwood.
Mr Rowat said he was open to buying the land himself.
But Cr Darren Kruse refuted claims the Rowats had been left in the dark, saying he had met with them in May.
“Seeking special pleadings because we’ve got a popular business is not the way to try to manipulate a public business,” Cr Kruse said.
“We will sell it at some stage, likely in the next term of council, so I don’t think it’s going to happen next week as has also been suggested.”
Meanwhile, budget deliberations – which were meant to be finalised on Tuesday night – have been delayed another week after Cr Adriana Christopoulos requested a copy of complaints made to the council about the sale of the Karkoo site.
Council staff indicated they had received in the order of 150 complaints.
A copy of each will be provided to each councillor before a special council meeting next Tuesday.