By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
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GREATER Dandenong Council is considering asset sales as “one of the options” to help pay for a new municipal complex in central Dandenong.
In an exclusive on the Weekly’s website last Thursday, Cr Peter Brown said slabs of public land in the CBD were “surplus to requirements” and would be sold.
The surplus blocks 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, or the space around the Pillars of Freedom war memorial.
Mayor Youhorn Chea said asset sales was “one of the options available” to the council but no formal decision had been made.
“Prior to making formal decisions, the council considers factors such as community and operational needs, opportunities for community benefit and the state of the market. Community involvement in relation to these matters will occur in the future.”
Cr Brown’s claims contradicted statements by council executives at a media briefing in March that the offices would be kept for a “community use”.
Cr Brown expects the sales will start after council officials move to the new complex, due 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 out loans to fund the $62 million complex 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 for the complex, $33.1 million of which will be loaned to the council.
Cr Brown’s claims come amid wrangling among councillors over the rates rise in the 2012-13 council budget.
Cr Brown claimed 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 on the sites once sold because it would have to divest planning control to the state-run authority Places Victoria.
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