Council signed off on a licence for Black Swan Lake which costs the Turf Club $1 in annual fees

THE Gold Coast Turf Club will be required to pay council an annual fee to use Black Swan Lake once it is filled in. And it’s a figure which has shocked a city leader who signed off on the fill-in.

THE Gold Coast Turf Club will be required to pay the city council just $1 a year under a licence deal to use Black Swan Lake once it is filled in.

Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow said yesterday she would have changed her vote on filling in the lake had she known.

Surfers Paradise-based councillor Gary Baildon had previously convinced a majority of councillors — including his Southport colleague — that the lake needed to be filled in for extra parking for the Gold Coast Show.

MAYOR ON ‘MYTHS’ OF BLACK SWAN LAKE

Black Swan Lake before it was about to be filled. Photo by Michelle Hare

“I have from day one, when those applications came through, thought why are we dealing with these matters — the show and the turf club — separately? It should be as one,” Cr Crichlow said.

“I voted on filling in the lake for the show society (to survive). I wouldn’t have done that if I knew it was going to be leased to the turf club for $1 a year.”

Reports this month indicated the financially troubled show might have to be moved from its turf club site to another location.

MOTHER AND DUCKLINGS HOMELESS AS BLACK SWAN LAKE FILLED

Aerial map of the Turf Club and council assets in the equine precinct at Bundall.

Previously quizzed by Cr Crichlow and Cr Daphne McDonald, council CEO Dale Dickson confirmed execution of the licence was under delegated authority, after a resolution by councillors in November 2016.

Asked to provide details of rates to be paid by the club, he replied: “The licence was negotiated on the basis that a gross rent was payable, inclusive of rates and charges.

“The licence provides the city to raise rates and charges should it desire to do so at any time.”

Mr Dickson said the council had signed off on other licences in the city valued at $1 a year.

The deed of licence gives the turf club an occupancy right on a 2.85ha prime spot in the Bundall equine precinct for the next 10 years and specifies the area’s permitted use will be for stormwater management and car parking.

Details of the deal have divided councillors and commercial valuers, with some believing sports clubs should be supported by peppercorn rents and filling in the lake shifts financial liabilities from ratepayers to the turf club.

Black Swan Lake slowly being filled in at Bundall. Picture Glenn Hampson

But a property analyst told the Gold Coast Bulletin: “It (Black Swan Lake land) is worth a fortune. To say it’s worth between $6 million to $12 million is extremely conservative. This is an excellent area to develop.”