‘Maseratis, Rolls Royces and Ferraris’: Fury over council carpark in Sydney’s east
Councillors in Sydney’s east spent two hours debating the future of a multimillion-dollar carpark before the mayor was forced to step in and enforce a time out.
A council meeting in Sydney’s east has descended into heated debate over a multimillion-dollar carpark, with snide comments about a “dodgy” process, funding for “Maseratis, Rolls Royces and Ferraris” and the mayor forcing an adjournment for councillors to calm down.
Woollahra Council spent more than two hours on Wednesday evening debating whether due diligence had been done on the potential sale of a council-owned carpark in Double Bay — while barely touching what to actually do with it.
When an independent councillor suggested government funding for the building had not been investigated, Deputy Mayor Sean Carmichael questioned whether the state government would be interested in providing money to an affluent suburb.
“Which Labor government does she think is going to fund a carpark for Maseratis, Rolls Royces and Ferraris in the middle of Double Bay,” he asked.
Liberal Councillor Toni Zeltzer suggested moving forward with the sale or development while still consulting residents would be “dodgy,” before quickly withdrawing the comment and apologising at the urging of Mayor Sarah Dixson.
Ms Dixson refuted the basis of the claim, and Zeltzer instead said the consultation process was “disingenuous”.
Shortly before the debate reached the two-hour mark, Cr Dixson intervened in the carpark conflict which she said “makes a mockery of what we do here”.
“I have witnessed raised voices and the like and I simply will not have it,” she said.
“I don’t run meetings where we attack one another in this way. It is obvious to me that we all need to take a 10-minute adjournment.”
The disagreements between councillors broke out primarily over whether the public should be consulted on what to do with the five-storey Cross Street carpark, despite formal public consultation over the site having already taken place just two years ago.
The council considered whether the ageing structure, which is reaching the end of its life, should be partially sold off, fixed up, or redeveloped with residential apartments as well as additional parking.
An independent report to the council noted the cost of retaining and remediating the Cross Street carpark would be approximately $25.6m to $38.6m.
The 1970s-era building, which houses community space, an early childhood health centre and 406 car spaces, is a council asset which Greens councillor Matthew Robertson said “is bleeding money”.
“I don’t know what the word for a carpark having one foot in the grave is, but let’s say it has a pylon,” he said.
“Frankly, we know what people are going to say, we have heard community demands on how they want this to be managed as a community carpark.”
Liberal councillor James Ardouin said it was the job of “elected officials to make a decision and be accountable to the ratepayers”.
“Ultimately we have been out to various forms of consultation since 1988 about this carpark, and I think we have the information to make an educated decision,” he said.
The heated debate ended with councillors unanimously agreeing an option for the carpark’s future would go on display for public feedback, as advice from council staff confirmed the process was required for all land sales according to their own policy.
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Originally published as ‘Maseratis, Rolls Royces and Ferraris’: Fury over council carpark in Sydney’s east
