14 Apr, 2019

City Of Adelaide To Meet With Adelaide Football Club To Seek Clarification Re Proposed Development

City of Adelaide CEO Mark Goldstone will meet with Adelaide Football Club representatives next week to explore further details of the proposed development of their mooted new sports and community centre.

Lord Mayor Sandy Verschoor says said that while there is a raft of public speculation around the proposal, there is currently very little detail.

“We know that $15 million was pledged towards a project in the Federal Budget and the Crows have expressed a desire to build a state-of-the-art facility in North Adelaide but, in reality, that is about all we know at this point,” said the Lord Mayor.

“As a Council, we are acutely aware of how much our community values the Adelaide Park Lands, so any development would have to offer very significant benefits for South Australians.

“We are also very mindful that the Adelaide Aquatic Centre is a significant drain on ratepayers, losing $700,000-$800,000 every year because of the poor condition of the ageing facilities.

The Lord Mayor says Mr Goldstone will be asking for details about how the community would stand to benefit from any proposed development in Park 2 in North Adelaide, with questions about what community facilities are envisaged.

The Lord Mayor denies media reports that Councillors had ‘agreed in confidence to progress the Adelaide Crows’ push’.

“What we’ve agreed is to ask for more details. It’s a logical first step in trying to ascertain whether there’s community value in any potential development.

“There’s nothing secretive about that.

“And, similarly, at this point there’s very little value in asking for community feedback, because we don’t know what we’re asking for feedback on.

“If and when we receive a draft plan for the site and it looks good, then of course we’ll seek feedback from the community.

“It obviously has to stack up. There may be a mutually beneficial solution in the Adelaide Football Club’s proposal, but equally there may not be.”

Matt Halliwell