Aldi gets OK to buy land for carpark in Gisborne

THE way has been cleared for supermarket giant Aldi to buy land for a carpark in Gisborne for $600,000.

09 Jul 2007 : Aldi supermarket @ Chermside : PicRob/Maccoll - food shop shops store sign signs

AN impasse on whether Macedon Ranges Council should sell land at 51 Aitken St, Gisborne, to supermarket giant Aldi for a carpark has been settled at a special council meeting.

Councillors last night voted eight to one to reinstate the process first recommended in March to sell the land to Aldi.

The meeting in Gisborne saw a successful rescission motion by West Ward councillor Roger Jukes, which overturned a decision at the last council meeting to seek other expressions of interest in the land.

RELATED: Aldi looks to buy land, set up in Gisborne’s Aitken St

According to the council, Aldi intends to buy 47-49 Aitken St to build a supermarket and 51 Aitken St would form the car park to the supermarket.

A public consultation process, referred to by a Section 223 agreement, will mean any other potential suitors for the sale of the council-owned land at 51 Aitken St by public treaty can still emerge.

$600,000 has been offered for the site by Aldi, but South Ward councillor Russell Mowatt believed there wasn’t enough transparency in the council’s deliberations with the retailer.

“We are the custodians of ratepayers and must work in their best interest, not the interests of the first bidder,” he said.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the council sell the land to Aldi? Tell us below

Cr Mowatt suggested the land may actually be sold at below market rate and questioned whether the council would have a conflict of interest as a future deliberator on a future Aldi planning permit.

But Cr Mowatt’s position attracted little support outside the majority of 16 members of the gallery.

Fellow South Ward councillor Sally Piper said Gisborne needed more car parking in its central business district and the land at 51 Aitken St was set aside for exactly that purpose.

“This is the closest parcel of land to the CBD which can offer a way to reduce the car parking shortage in the CBD,” she said.

“We also know this land is not suitable for anything else than a carpark and comparisons with other sales nearby are irrelevant and misleading.”

It also emerged at the meeting that the land was on a former council depot and it was contaminated. That fact had not been explained in the original council report.

East Ward councillor Henry McLaughlin said he was satisfied the 223 process could still flush out other potential developers while West Ward’s Roger Jukes said there were also proceeds council could collect from the owners of each individual parking bay in the vicinity of $8000 to $10,000.

If an Aldi was to be built in Gisborne it would be the township’s fourth supermarket along with Coles, IGA and FoodWorks.