A former Canberra planning chief has attacked the ACT Government over its support for a Brumbies bid to redevelop a Griffith public oval.
The Brumbies want to redevelop two blocks of land bounded by Captain Cook Crescent, La Perouse Street and Austin Street in the prestigious suburb for new headquarters and 150 residential units.
Former commissioner of the National Capital Development Commission Tony Powell claims the Government should have first established if there was a business case to justify the proposed loss of public open space.
While the Government is assessing a planning report supporting the rezoning, the Griffith/Narrabundah Community Association has discovered under Freedom of Information the extent of Canberra-based residential developer Amalgamated Property Group's involvement in the proposal.
Mr Powell is asking why the Government has been silent on a developer's involvement.
''Is it a device to avoid revealing how much of the scheme's overall profit goes to the developer and how much to the Brumbies?''
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope declined to comment. Planning Minister Andrew Barr said the Government was dealing with the proposal impartially and that Mr Powell was factually wrong.
Mr Barr said the Government had no interest in who the Brumbies engaged to develop the block, only that they consulted with the community and abided by all the planning laws and processes.
Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan said there was no joint venture deal with APG; it was the ''primary consultant on planning'', along with other consultants.
APG's involvement had never been a secret.
''We're a football club and we're not experts in property development, nor planning, so we are using a range of consultants led by Amalgamated to assist us through this process,'' he said.
If planning approvals were given, then the Brumbies would likely seek a development partner and prepare a business case.
Mr Powell said Mr Barr told an Assembly committee hearing in November last year the Government would support the Brumbies' application to rezone land to help underpin the Super 14 club's future operations and enhance training facilities.
''Before giving its support the Stanhope Government should have taken steps to ascertain whether such a strategy has any prospect of achieving the desired outcome, rather than accept at face value what the Brumbies/APG consortium was putting forward,'' he said.
Source: The Canberra Times
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