Parramatta Mission faces loss of $30m in council land acquisition
Not-for-profit Parramatta Mission faces the loss of half of a building, at an estimated cost of $30 million, under council plans to acquire a section of its land for a walkway.
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Parramatta Mission is ready to move heaven and earth to prevent a $30 million loss of property which would stymie its ability to perform “God’s work” in helping the west’s homeless.
A push from Parramatta Council to acquire a portion of the Uniting Church’s land sparked a heated debate among councillors at a meeting tonight, before the matter was deferred for a fortnight.
Under the council’s plans to create Civic Link, a walkway extending from Parramatta Railway Station to Parramatta River, the mission would lose 6.5m of land near its Leigh Memorial Church on Macquarie Street.
The not-for-profit’s lawyer, Dr Ulysses Chioatto, said any resumption of its land would cause massive economic and social impacts.
“This 6.5m mightn’t sound like much, but what it actually means is that they are taking away half of our building and if you want to put a dollar value on it, it’s $30 million in building value,” Dr Chioatto said.
“It’s a huge, huge concern and we’re outraged by what council’s doing.”
Senior Minister Keith Hamilton wrote to “brothers and sisters in Christ” at the weekend, calling on them to contact councillors ahead of tonight’s meeting to stop the approval of plans.
“This move by council will directly harm and reduce the ability of Parramatta Mission to do God’s good work in the heart of Parramatta,” he said.
Councillors were flooded today with complaints following Mr Hamilton’s call to arms.
However, independent councillor Lorraine Wearne said she would not be “blackmailed” into backing down on council’s plans.
Cr Wearne accused the mission’s chiefs of playing “mind games” after plans had been in the works for nearly a decade.
“This is one of the most important linkages in the city,” the Epping ward councillor said. “You can’t tell me the mission didn’t know about this.
“We have received a plethora of emails at the death knock … but I won’t be blackmailed by the mission or anyone else.”
Lord Mayor Andrew Wilson said he would “never want to do anything to hurt the mission”, but it’s a question of town planning.
“Maybe we want a higher standard of building in the city,” he said. “We need to treat (the mission) the same as everyone else.”
Dr Chioatto said if council ultimately proceeded with its walkway proposal, he would be calling for an independent investigation into how public land had been divided up in the $2.7 billion Parramatta Square redevelopment.
“This situation has a background and context,” he said. “Parramatta Council, along with the developer (of Parramatta Square) Walker Group gave public land (6.5m) to the NAB, which has just copped a hammering in the banking royal commission.
“And to make their link happen, they have to find that land somewhere. And now they want to take land away from a not-for-profit which has been here for 200 years and help the most vulnerable in society.
“So council is taking from the poor to give to the rich.
“The conflict of interest here would have merit to be investigated by ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption).”
A council report says a new laneway is required to the west of the link to enable servicing of properties and alternative traffic arrangements to facilitate redevelopment of Horwood Place Car Park.
The land-acquisition furore comes as the mission already has a development application in with council for a $41 million, 12-storey multi-use hub at the Macquarie Street site.
Under the plan, the 9th century facades of the Leigh Memorial Church will be revitalised and the site given a complete overhaul alongside the Epworth House and Fellowship Place which will be transformed into a joint residential and commercial development backing onto Parramatta Square.
“One of the things we want to provide with this is low-cost accommodation for people who are at risk of homelessness,” Mr Hamilton said.
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