She was clearly distressed. They are tearing down the Council Chamber she declared. “We have to stop them” she said repeatedly.
Her concerns related to Council’s recent announcement about investigating redeveloping the Civic Centre Site. She understood Council was about to demolish the Town Hall and the Library. She believed that Council had sent her a letter confirming this.
Newspaper articles have refrained from identifying the Civic Centre site. They have used words like “towering over Town Hall”. Words like “radical proposal to cannibalise its own Council Chambers”. Ratepayers and others are also distributing flyers indicating Council WILL be building 8 storeys on the Village Green.
Please, please, please! Pay no attention to this alarmist dialogue. It is untrue. For the truth I invite you read my recent blog post.
And let me stress:
1 The Council is only considering whether or not to redevelop the Civic Centre Site. The Civic Centre site houses Council’s administration.
2 We are not demolishing the Town Hall or the Library. They are State Heritage listed buildings. As anyone who knows, we are very proactive in protecting our heritage.
3 We are not going to build over the Town Hall or Library.
4 We have no intention of building an 8 storey building on the Village Green.
5 We have not sent any letter saying otherwise.
6 We are simply looking into what opportunities a redevelopment of the Civic Centre site will provide to better serve the community of Unley.
7 The investigation will take some 12 months.
8 Our community will be asked to contribute what they believe we can achieve in considering such a redevelopment.
We will soon be asking you to help us determine what would be the best use of the Civic Centre site for our future community.
Can I close by asking you this question. Do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?
Don, I am getting similar outrage from residents.
A few in the community are stirring the pot and distributing inaccurate leaflets.
There is no real understanding of what might happen and inaccuracy in the media doesn’t help.
When it comes to a decision as to what might be built, it will need to reflect Council’s obligation to be a good corporate citizen with a development that is in harmony with its environment. That would necessitate lower ‘towers’, lots of trees, lots of underground carparks (200+) etc. This development in harmony with its environment may in fact mean that the development is not cost effective and may deter finance and developer partners.
Time will tell.
In the meantime we will continue to get flack from residents; and quite reasonably so.
My enthusiasm for this proposal is not high. 🤔