Moving goal posts for supermarket

EVERY time Bob Little has put forward a proposal for a new supermarket in the Centenary Drive car park, it has been rejected by Clarence Valley Council.

EVERY time Maclean grocer Bob Little has put forward a proposal for a new supermarket in the Centenary Drive car park, it has been rejected by Clarence Valley Council, but now the lure of a $2.5 million offer from IGA for a 3570sq m chunk of car park has the council “considering its options”.

An even higher, but confidential, offer from Woolworths would be discussed by a full meeting of the council tonight and Mr Little has expressed concerns the council could lose sight of its obligations to provide adequate parking in its rush for dollars.

“They (IGA) are offering twice the value of the land and I think it’s made them (the council) sit up and take notice,” he said.

Quick to point out he was no development expert, Mr Little said by the time a two-storey structure catered for a loading dock, room for trucks to manoeuvre, escalators, lifts and pylons – some 30 to 60 parking spots could be lost.

He said he thought IGA and Woolworths could be expecting the council to cover costs of the replacement parking spaces because their land offer was so high.

“It’s a dangerous precedent to set having developers not adhering to their parking contributions,” he said. “It is a set formula.”

Mr Little, whose Spar supermarket is by his own admission, inadequate for Maclean’s needs, said he had been campaigning for a larger space for many years.

When Andrew Baker’s Centenary Drive proposal failed in 2007 with an emphatic rejection from the council, Mr Little began looking elsewhere.

The proposed development of a full-line Spar in Church St, Maclean was rejected by council last month on the basis that it would split the Maclean CBD – a position Mr Little himself held over previous developments.

Mr Little said the developers were considering an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.

Now, he said, the council appeared to be offering “flexibility” in parking considerations at the Centenary Drive site where previously there was none.

“Baker’s original proposal (before 2007) is what they are proposing now,” he said.

Mr Little said the council then moved the site of the proposed supermarket to green space in Cameron Park (with its infamous “blue blob”) and increased the site to 6000sq m which caused public outrage.

“I believe it was set up to fail,” he said.

Mr Little said he had rejected an offer from IGA to become a tenant at the new site on moral, financial and legal grounds.

He was still tied legally to the Church St development and doubted the viability of a 2000sq m supermarket alongside his.

Mr Little and his wife Judith set up their grocery store in 1980.

Originally published as Moving goal posts for supermarket