Tom Tate and Eddy Sarroff at war on how the Bruce Bishop car park was left to rundown
Former council finance boss Eddy Sarroff has blamed Mayor Tom Tate for the poor state of the Bruce Bishop car park and its failure to make profits.
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Former council finance boss Eddy Sarroff has blamed Mayor Tom Tate for the poor state of the Bruce Bishop car park and its failure to make profits.
But his comments have reignited their feud, with the Mayor dismissing the former councillor’s comment and in a one-sentence statement questioning his relevance to the debate.
City councillors are seeking profit and loss statement along with a dilapidation report after a majority of them on Monday voted to stop the sale of the city’s major public asset.
Mr Sarroff who attended the meeting welcomed council’s decision but accused the administration of making poor judgments in the past, singling out the Mayor.
Mr Tate did not vote on Monday and excused himself from the debate due to a conflict of interest.
Mr Sarroff said the council had continued to want to sell the public asset despite opposition from Surfers Paradise business owners and residents.
“The Bruce Bishop car park has showed a good rental return during my time as chair of finance and delivered affordable daily rates,” he said.
“My recollection is the annual profit during my time in council was close to a million dollars.”
Mr Sarroff who lost to Mr Tate in a bitter 2012 election took aim at his former rival.
“The Mayor who has been the strongest advocate for the sale should take responsibility for the huge cost in promoting the sale as well as the missed opportunities to improve the asset and promote Surfers Paradise,” he said.
“This asset has been let down city hall for a long time which is usually the strategy to get rid of a public asset.”
Mr Tate, when asked to comment, told the Bulletin: “It’s obviously been a long 11 winters for Eddy as that’s the last time he was a councillor, or mayoral candidate.’’
Meanwhile, planning chair Cameron Caldwell, who is being touted as a future mayoral candidate, on his Facebook page posted “Bruce Bishop car park saved!”
“Today I was proud to support the council resolution NOT (sic) to sell the Bruce Bishop car park,” he wrote.
“The clear message from the community was that they valued this asset, and from the information provided it made sense to me to keep it when it plays an important role in providing parking in Surfers Paradise.
“We only ever get one chance to sell an asset, and my view is now was not the right time to sell Bruce Bishop car park.”
Councillor Hermann Vorster made a similar “no sale” post saying: “I want to thank my colleagues for supporting a decision to protect car parking.”
Cr William Owen-Jones said councillors received emails on the weekend from environmental groups about whether the asset’s green space on top of the car park could be restored.
“The green space that was on top of the Bruce Bishop Car Park cannot return because of issues in regards to weight and design,” told the groups.
“There won’t be birdlife, there won’t be tree planting, there won’t be any of that. In regards to the top deck, the dilapidation report may help provide some information in that regards.”
EARLIER:
The Bruce Bishop car park in Surfers Paradise will not be sold after a final vote of councillors, despite some strong opposition.
The vote at a full council meeting at the Evandale Chambers on Monday was 12-2.
Those councillors who did not support terminating the sale of car park were Bob La Castra and Pauline Young.
Several councillors who previously supported a sale changed their position after a new officer’s report.
Mayor Tom Tate did not vote and left the room before the debate, due to a conflict of interest. Community Alliance leader John Hicks who was with many residents in the gallery including former councillor Eddy Sarroff who campaigned to keep the car park, thanked councillors.
“We strongly wish to see this key strategic site held in council ownership for the long term benefit of the Gold Coast,” Mr Hicks said.
Area councillor Darren Taylor said the council would now review “dynamic pricing” and see how it could promote the car park.
“Earlier reports show it will be at capacity by 2031. We have to make sure we have a car park and assets that accommodate our growth,” Cr Taylor said.
Deputy Mayor Donna Gates had earlier put forward an amendment which requested a profit and loss statement on the asset for the past six years and dilapidation report.
Explaining her position to change her vote, she said recent officer reports were confusing and showed a $1 million difference in terms of operating the car park between 2018 and last year.
“I don’t think anyone has tried to mislead us as any time,” she said.
But councillors had voted differently on two occasions because they were given conflicting information, she added.
Veteran councillor Bob La Castra spoke against the motion, supporting the City proceed with a sale and go to the market to seek potential future investment options.
“There is no way on earth I can support this motion, or will support this motion. Basically all we’ve done is go full circle,” he said.
Cr La Castra said four administrations since 2007 had debated the car park sale and the decision was again being “flick passed” to the next council.
Cr Pauline Young was also strongly opposed to stalling the sale, saying ratepayers should not have to fund improvements to the car park which had a “war zone” type appearance as an entry statement to the heart of the city.
The current occupancy of the car park was 37 per cent with motorists only paying $10 a day, she added.
“It’s an unappealing entrance to our city from the airport. It’s an ageing, ageing asset,” she said.
Cr William Owen-Jones said councillors received emails on the weekend from environmental groups about whether the asset’s green space on top of the car park could be restored.
“The green space that was on top of the Bruce Bishop Car Park cannot return because of issues in regards to weight and design,” told the groups.
“There won’t be birdlife, there won’t be tree planting, there won’t be any of that. In regards to the top deck, the dilapidation report may help provide some information in that regards.”
He added that the administration would need to consider changes to the transit centre because fewer buses were arriving.
Area councillor Darren Taylor, who has campaigned to save the asset, said the sale had failed as the city emerged from a “boom time”.
“This is an asset that belongs to the whole of the city,” he said.
EARLIER:
Councillors are being asked by community groups to “terminate” any future plans to sell the Bruce Bishop car park in Surfers Paradise.
The Community Alliance, a coalition of 15 Gold Coast groups, issued the call on the eve of today’s vote at a full council meeting at the Evandale Chambers.
The sale of the city’s largest public asset has divided councillors given there are conflicting reports about usage of the car park and repair costs.
The Bulletin in a report late last week revealed an offer of $50 million had been made to buy the prime site.
But Community Alliance president John Hicks said the council-owned facilities were a key strategic infrastructure asset for our city which need to be retained to support the strong visitor, residential and business growth in Surfers Paradise.
“In the future there will also be a need for a hub to cater for high frequency, east-west public
transport servicing the needs of residents and workers from inland suburbs to access Surfers
Paradise,” he said.
“The Transit Centre site must be retained to provide this important future transport
function.
“Put simply, it is strongly against the community interest for council to transfer the
ownership of this hugely important land holding from public to private ownership by sale to
a developer for high rise apartments.
“It is profoundly disappointing that some councillors seem very willing to ignore the long-
term importance of this site in the centre of Surfers and are prepared to sell it off for a
comparatively modest short-term cash return to the city. “
The latest tender process has been dogged by integrity issues with negotiations stalling in July last year due to a “regulatory and probity” issues.
In December talks with the leading bidder collapsed after the Sydney-based consortium did not meet payment deadlines. Council alerted the other four top bidders.
Officers at a governance committee meeting last week advised councillors of these options:
● ascertain with industry the best strategic use for the site and go to the market for feedback;
● do nothing and retain it as a car park;
● deal now with the other remaining parties seeking to buy it;
● run a new tender process to see if the market has changed.
The vote at committee was 5-3 to keep the asset, as councillors took a shock U-turn. The previous vote was 8-6 to sell.
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