Clarence City Council had previously denied an extension of time for the development
Alderman have slammed claims of council secrecy following a divisive special meeting on the contentious $80 million Kangaroo Bay development earlier this week. LATEST >>
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Rosny Hill Friends Network, Hunter Developments sign agreement
- West Coast gold mine changes hands for $26 million
ALDERMAN have slammed claims of council secrecy following a divisive special meeting earlier this week.
Legal matters around the divisive $80 million Kangaroo Bay hotel and hospitality school project were discussed at the Clarence City Council’s meeting on Monday.
The meeting was not broadcast to the public, but due to IT constraints — not lack of preparation or a planned lack of transparency.
Ald Sharyn von Bertouch said the meeting was public when it began and stayed in open council when a majority did not vote for the procedural motion to go into closed council.
She said the meeting was also recorded from start to finish and posted to the council’s website on Tuesday.
The Mercury understands Ald James Walker dialled into the meeting, meaning it could not be streamed.
“To malign the general manager and other staff in relation to the arrangements planned to cover an urgent meeting at this time of year, after the sterling job they have done throughout a very difficult and highly unusual year, is unfortunate at best, and reprehensible at worst,” she said.
Ald Dean Ewington said the meeting was to discuss a contractual issue — not a debate around whether the development was appropriate.
He said if the council did not vote to extend the contract there was a possibility of being sued for breach of contract, with damages potentially running into the millions and council likely to lose control of the land.
“Unfortunately some aldermen are trying to rewrite history in an attempt to save face after peddling the lie that a buy back at the sale price of $2.4 million was an option open to council at the moment, and just as disingenuously that ‘the project is dead in the water’ and Chambroad was choosing not to start the project by voice,” he said.
Clarence’s ‘secret meeting’ over K Bay development
Blair Richards
THE developers behind a stalled $80 million hotel and hospitality school at Kangaroo Bay will be given another extension of time to progress the project, with Clarence City Council finding itself in a “serious legal situation”.
Council scheduled a special meeting on Monday night to discuss a legal matter, now revealed to be the Kangaroo Bay project, after a bid to hold the meeting in secret failed.
In October Chinese developers Chambroad’s request for another two years to start the project was rejected after a tied vote at council.
Over 2200 people signed a petition urging council to reject the extension and buy back the land for public use.
However Mayor Doug Chipman said as a consequence of council not reaching a way forward at its meeting of October 12, council was required to consider the extension as a legal matter.
Council has now approved the extension of time with several new conditions to protect the interests of council and preserve a land buyback option.
“Council’s failure to reach a decision on the extension request has led to a serious legal situation. The legal advice received this week made it very clear that council needed to act quickly to avoid an ongoing breach of contract” he said.
“When completed, this high-end international hotel and hospitality school will not just bring untold benefits to the Kangaroo Bay precinct and Clarence, but to the whole of Tasmania.”
However doubts have been raised that the joint Chambroad- University of Tasmania development, approved in 2017, will ever come to pass.
Alderman Tony Mulder said a council buy back in 2022 was inevitable.
“The only option to avoiding the title going freehold is to grant the extension. Keeping the buy back clause alive is the only way to keep control of this,” he said.
As the bid for Monday’s meeting to be closed failed, the public should have been able to view the meeting.
However the meeting was not broadcast and the doors of the council chambers were closed in line with COVID-19 safety policy.
Alderman Luke Edmunds lamented the fact that the meeting wasn’t live streamed.
“Elected members refused to go into closed meeting but the council administration – despite plenty of prior warning – did not prepare for the possibility. It was an embarrassing night for transparency at Clarence Council,” he said.
The Kangaroo Bay Voice group staged a protest outside the council chambers ahead of the meeting.
Spokeswoman Anne Geard said the development had been a mistake from the beginning and said discussions should be held in the open.
“We are not against development, we want development that benefits everybody,” she said.
WATCH: Guide gets perfect vantage point of West Coast bushfires
It was a race to get up to the summit of Mount Oakleigh, but Shaun Mittwollen managed to see the West Coast bushfires better than most. Here’s what it was like seeing the fires so close.
Teacher back in court on child exploitation material charge
A Tasmanian primary school teacher and former journalist charged with allegedly possessing child exploitation material has made a new appearance in a Launceston courtroom.