WOOLWORTHS’ plans for the old Food For Less site on the foreshore of Port Macquarie will be in the spotlight yet again later this month.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has announced it will host a public forum on Monday 16 June to gather feedback on what type of commercial development residents would like to see on the adjacent Plaza car park public reserve.
This follows a public forum organised by Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams last week at Panthers, which was attended by more than 100 people.
At the forum, Woolworths’ regional development manager Anthony Iannuzzi outlined their revamped proposal if they were successful in purchasing most of the Plaza car park site, which would enable them to expand their development. Crown Lands’ Brett Phillips assured attendees Crown Lands was acting totally above board in its dealings with Woolworths. Mrs Williams also re-affirmed her commitment to pushing for any funds from a sale to be put towards the beautification of the Port Macquarie foreshore
However, some appeared unconvinced Crown Lands was doing the right thing by negotiating a direct sale without advertising the Plaza car park site for public expressions of interest – including mayor Peter Besseling, who was particularly vocal and announced council would stage its own forum on 16 June.
Cr Besseling said the key ingredient in any discussions about the future of this site was the community.
“This is community land and yet the community have not been involved in decisions that will affect its future,” he said.
“Crown Lands has advised that a public interest test has been undertaken – yet I am aware of no-one in our community who has been consulted as part of this test.”
He said the aim of the Monday 16 June session at the Glasshouse from 6pm would be to “better inform Crown Lands of the community’s attitudes”.
The council forum will be the third meeting in a month to discuss Woolworths’ plans, with the Port Macquarie property owners group also staging a meeting two weeks ago.
***SIDEBAR ***
What Woolworths would like to do
WOOLWORTHS already has a development application approved to build a supermarket on the site currently occupied by the Food For Less complex, which provides for minimal parking.
Adding most of the Plaza carpark site to the development would enable them to turn their planned supermarket sideways and set it back further from Short and William streets and Kooloongbung Creek, with a larger landscaped area and some retail outlets fronting the creek instead of a blank loading dock wall. They would also provide car parking underneath, so there would be no loss of car parking spaces in the immediate vicinity.
***SIDEBAR ***
Rights to carparking spaces
THERE have been assertions Woolworths has rights to car parking spaces in the Plaza car park under their current development application and because of “existing rights”, which would limit the value of the Plaza car park as a development site to anyone other than themselves. Crown Lands’ Mr Phillips actually referred to “encumbrances” on the land at the forum last Thursday. However, this has been refuted by council, and council distributed a media release to attendees at least week’s meeting to this effect.
