Tea Tree Gully deputy mayor concerned taxpayers are paying for a private company’s carparks in Modbury
A carpark has been approved in Adelaide’s north east, but the local deputy mayor is concerned taxpayers are wrongly footing the bill for parks they cannot use.
North & North East
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Ratepayers are footing the bill for a business’s carparking, raising the ire of a civic leader.
A temporary carpark built to accommodate the construction of the Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride has been approved by the Tea Tree Gully Council, but the deputy mayor was concerned taxpayers were footing the bill for a private company’s carparks.
Last week the Tea Tree Gully Council passed a motion of support for a temporary 296-space carpark at 122 Smart Road, Modbury.
The Department of Infrastructure and Transport’s application now needs State Planning Commission approval.
It was designed to offset the loss in parking for Tafe SA and Datacom employees, while the new $48m Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride is built.
The final structure will eventually operate with the $33m Park ‘n’ Ride at Golden Grove that is in construction.
City of Tea Tree Gully Deputy Mayor Lucas Jones, said the Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride was necessary and welcome, but he is confused why taxpayers are paying for a company’s parking.
“The temporary carpark, which is all publicly funded, will only be for those employees,” Mr Jones said.
Mr Jones also said the ground floor of the new Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride would be reserved exclusively for Datacom employees.
“They’re going to be creating a Park ‘n’ Ride, which taxpayers are paying for, and the public should be able to use all of it,” he said.
“They’re putting in boomgates or bollards to stop the public accessing the Datacom parks, which I think is wrong.
“It’s only really through people being cranky that they’ve now committed to a second Park ‘n’ Ride in Modbury, but the state government has only committed to it being a modest size.
“It seems a bit silly, given that there is obviously a demand for car parking in the area, it should be bigger.
Mr Jones said it would be beneficial for a bigger facility to accommodate population growth.
“They should build one to plan for the future. Not just a quick political fix because people have been calling for it,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said an agreement was made with Datacom to allocate a number of parks as part of a contract.
The final Modbury Park ‘n’ Ride will occupy an existing carpark that currently accommodates parking primarily used by Datacom employees.
The contract sees the company retain parks it would otherwise lose as part of the development.
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