By Cameron Lucadou-Wells
A GREATER Dandenong councillor has contradicted official statements, asserting the council will sell off its Clow Street offices as part of a mass asset sale to help pay for the council’s $62 million municipal building complex in central Dandenong.
Cr Peter Brown told the Weekly that slabs of public land in Dandenong’s CBD were ‘‘surplus to requirements’’ and would be sold. These include:
* The council offices, Clow Street.
* Dandenong library, Stuart Street.
* Outdoor car park behind Myer, Clow Street.
* The council-owned building occupied by a bank and a butcher, corner of Lonsdale and Clow streets.
Cr Brown said there was no plan to sell off the leafy Pioneer Memorial Gardens, which adjoin the offices, nor the space around the Pillars of Freedom war memorial.
His comments contradict statements by council executive members at a media briefing in March.
In the briefing, executive members said the offices would be kept for a ‘‘community use’’, along with the Springvale Road offices and library.
Cr Brown said the sales would start after council officials moved out of Clow Street to the municipal building complex, which is expected to be built by mid-2014.
‘‘It’s a big slab of land and we won’t get rid of it all straightaway. It would be a staged process.’’
The council will be taking significant loans to fund the complex — on the corners of Lonsdale and Walker streets — that will include a library, civic centre and a Federation Square-style outdoor space.
This year’s draft budget is believed to allocate about $38 million towards the complex’s construction, $33.1 million of which will be loaned to the council.
Cr Brown’s comments come amid wrangling between councillors over the extent of the rates rise set in the 2012-13 council budget.
Cr Brown is arguing for the council to reduce a mooted 5.5 per cent rate rise to 4.5 per cent.
The budget is to be announced later this month.
Cr Brown said the sales were part of the council’s long-term strategy to reduce its debt from the new building project.
He said the council would not have a say in the future of the sites once sold because it would have to divest planning control to the state-run authority, Places Victoria.
‘‘We couldn’t sell the land and want to be the planning authority of the sites.’’
The Weekly is awaiting comment from Greater Dandenong Council.
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