Fear that hundreds of Ivanhoe carparks could be lost if Banyule Council sell a public parking lot

WHILE Banyule Council considers selling a two-storey Ivanhoe carpark, it is buying up land in Greensborough to build another.

n14dv312 The Heidelberg Town Hall.

BANYULE Council is coming under fire for building carparks — and also for selling them.

Residents fear hundreds of Ivanhoe carparks could be lost if Banyule Council sells its Livingstone St two-storey parking lot.

And in a separate parking row, Bundoora state Labor MP Colin Brooks has slammed the council for spending “money like drunken sailors” for splashing $1.5 million to demolish a house to build a 42-space public carpark — at a cost of nearly $35,000 a space.

This follows the council settling a compulsory acquisition process to buy 2 Stubley Court, Greensborough, to build a carpark for $1.13 million — more than double the initial valuation of the property. It is near the council’s new headquarters at ­Watermarc.

Related:Banyule Council attacked for slashing services but spending “like drunken sailors”

The council says building the carpark will cost an extra $300,000.

Meanwhile angst over losing parking in Ivanhoe is growing.

This follows council revealing it is considering selling the parking lot that adjoins Ivanhoe Plaza and is rented out by council to Seacrest, the centre’s owner.

Since the parking lot was built in the 1980s, council has leased it at the peppercorn rental of $1 a year to whomever owned the plaza, in order to provide parking for shoppers.

Now the ongoing lease is up, councillors will soon decide whether to sell the parking lot to Seacrest.

Council City Development director Scott Walker would not go into reasons behind why council was considering selling the site, but said all would be revealed in a future report.

Mr Walker said there were 372 carparks in the building — 301 council owned and 71 belonging to Seacrest.

Mr Walker said while there was no development proposal on the horizon, the Ivanhoe Structure Plan required 117 parking spaces to continue to be provided if the site was one day ­demolished.

But community member Gilda May said three medical practices as well as shoppers used the parking, which she feared would be lost or reduced if the building was sold.

Resident Roger Fyfe wanted to know whether council would use the cash from the potential sale to improve parking in Ivanhoe.

Councillors will decide whether to sell the building and land at a future meeting.