Redevelopment of the Watson Starlight Drive-In site in its present form could cost the public up to $17 million, according to Moore Independent candidate Mark Dunstone.
Units on the site, called Karelia Park, are being sold of the plan, subject to approvals.
Mr Dunstone said yesterday that the present lease-purpose clause was for tourist accommodation and had not been varied for the new development. The development had not been approved and betterment tax had not been paid.
“”A lease variation is needed for this type of development, in which case betterment of somewhere between $8 million and $17 million would have to be paid,” he said. This represented the difference in value with the present lease clause of 180 tourist accommodation units to 185 residential units and 140 tourist units.
The managing director of the Independent Group, Graham Potts, said the units were being sold off plan subject to approvals, just like nearly all other developments.
The developer was in regular contact with the Department of Environment, Land and Planning to meet its requirements. The development had not got final approval, but it had reached the stage that “”if you were the developer you would have to assume it is going through”.
“”We believe it is far enough down the track to seek expressions of interest, but there is no public media advertising campaign yet,” he said. “”They are being sold subject to approval so there is no skin off the public’s nose.”
An eight-page full-colour brochure is in circulation.
Valuer Noel McCann, who is working for the developer, said the betterment tax would not be anything like what Mr Dunstone said. If it were, the development would not be viable.
The development was consistent with the Territory Plan variation on Watson. Betterment was yet to be assessed.
“”We will wait and see what the betterment is,” he said. “”If we think it is too high, we can go to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.”