A detailed report into the sale of Kibbleplex has finally been made public by Gosford Council. The site was purchased for $13 million, according to a report to the March 8 general meeting of Gosford Council.
The report said the $13 million price was “at the top of the registered, independent valuation range for the property”. The council report confirmed the property had been acquired by the Lederer Group, which is a Sydney based property owner and developer who owns the adjacent Imperial Shopping Centre and is committed to the enhancement of the Gosford CBD.
Proceeds from the sale will be used for a variety of purposes including: preparing a CBD Car Park Strategy; relocation of the Smart Work Hub; delivery of a new library and other education facilities on Mann St adjacent to Council’s Administration Building. The site will remain a commuter car park for the immediately foreseeable future, even though it is now in private ownership. Council originally acquired the Kibbleplex site for $11 million in 2011, subsidised by a $7 million grant from the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.
Cr Vicki Scott, who had been critical of the secrecy around the sale of Kibbleplex said she had requested the report in response to the many questions she had received from community members during the past year about the building’s future. “It could have been avoided if we had been more inclusive with the community on the sale of Kibbleplex,” Cr Scott said. “I have recently seen an impression of what a proposed development on the Kibbleplex site would look like and apparently the public and council found out about it through large media coverage at the same time,” she said.
Cr Scott said she had received calls questioning her about inclusion of Kibble Park in the Lederer Group’s concept plan for the precinct. “Councillors have not been involved in any discussion about the takeover or use of public land,” Cr Scott said. “I ask the mayor that you ensure that the community at all times be proactively consulted if possible and that councillors be able to carry out their represented duties if possible,” she said. Gosford Council’s CEO, Mr Paul Anderson said a confidentiality clause had been signed by Gosford Council with the Lederer Group as part of the exchange of contracts that included a requirement for council to keep details confidential on the basis Lederer was going to use the period of time prior to settlement to put together a master plan.
“Kibble Park has not been discussed with Gosford Council,” Mr Anderson said. “It is simply a concept plan the Lederer Group has put together and covers what they could do in a voluntary planning agreement when they get to the stage of putting together concrete plans about what they could do in redeveloping the site at some time in the future,” he said. “It was their opinion that given the magnitude of what they were talking about, they wanted to do something other than what would occur in the normal public consultation period.”
Cr Gabby Bowles said: “I do understand some of the point Cr Scott raised about the community coming second in terms of receiving information, but I think the CEO has outlined that quite clearly. “The situation council found itself in with Kibbleplex when it was purchased, was that council thought it could become something but as we went down through time, it became clear it wasn’t going to return to the community what was expected,” Cr Bowles said. “Council achieved a greater return than it spent on it. “I think council should be congratulated for the outcome it has achieved here,” she said, outlining the funds the sale of the building would return to the community, including the regional library.
She also said that many parks and reserves in the Gosford area had been gifted from or embellished by private developers. Cr Hillary Morris said she took exception to a remark in the report that public perceptions of Kibbleplex had been grossly infl ated. “The reason why public expectations have been high, is because for the past four years, we have been talking it up,” Cr Morris said. She also suggested the expenditure on establishing the smart work hub in the building had been “folly”. Mr Anderson responded that: “At that point of time, we were still working through a proposal of what we can do with that part of the building.”
He said funding for 60 per cent of the smart work hub had come from the NSW Government and that all the hardware and equipment, the “smart bits”, were very relocatable and reusable. Cr Bob Ward said that the Lederer Group’s commitment to spend $650 million over the next 20 years in the Gsoford CBD should not be overlooked in the debate, as it would be the biggest project that the Central Coast had ever seen. In closing the debate, Cr Scott said her issues were not about the sale of Kibbleplex, but about community consultation and inclusion. “I do not have an issue with the proposal, with Lederer, with the Sundae in the Park. “I drove past Kibble Park that Sunday and it was the most people I have ever seen in there. “My issue is to please keep the community involved in some of these issues, and by leaving out councillors, you are leaving out the community, because we are their elected representatives,” she said. The lack of discussion between council’s staff and councillors meant that Cr Scott did not know how to answer the community’s questions about Lederer’s concept. “Let’s be proactive and look for ways we can consult,” she said. Cr McKinna said he wished to remind councillors that they had given their consent for the CEO to act on their behalf and get the deal done.
Agenda item, Mar 8, 2016 GRO. 10, Gosford Council ordinary meeting Meeting transcript, Mar 8, 2016 Jackie Pearson, journalist