West Torrens Council pushes forward Crows’ Thebarton Oval move
After a meeting lasting nearly three hours, the West Torrens Council has signed an agreement with the Adelaide Football Club to develop a masterplan about moving its headquarters to Thebarton Oval, despite being in caretaker mode.
An artist's rendition of the Crows' proposed Thebarton HQ. Photo: supplied/Adelaide Football Club/City Collective
The council voted at the special meeting to enter a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the club to set up its new headquarters at Thebarton Oval and the adjacent Kings Reserve.
The decision now means the club can develop a masterplan for the $85m project, however residents have expressed concerns the agreement was made before council elections this week, limiting their input.
Community spokesperson Dave Conroy said residents had developed a mistrust for the council throughout the consultation process on the project.
“Mayor Michael Coxon and CEO Terry Buss have led and taken responsibility over these negotiations with the Crows and, for reasons still unclear, been adamant on rushing this MOA through,” Conroy said.
“We look forward to the results of the council elections this weekend and working with the new council to mend the relationship with residents, while entertaining the Crows’ offer of an olive branch for a more meaningful consultation and genuine commitment to do the right thing by the community.”
While ordinarily, a council in caretaker mode could not have signed the Memorandum of Agreement, a Ministerial Exemption was issued by the Minister for Local Government Geoff Brock, to make a designated decision during caretaker period.
Chairman of the Adelaide Football Club John Olsen told ABC radio the decision at council last night does not mean that the headquarters site is locked in.
“We can move to phase two which is a stepped process,” Olsen said.
“This enables us to undertake due diligence on the site to look at what we can achieve on the site to develop a masterplan on the site that will then go back to Council for further assessment next year.
“We can look at the site taking into the views of residents, we will now go into an intensive consultation phase with the local community.
“Step one or phase one was a matter for the local council under the Local Government Act. We’ve gone past that and this is really permission for us now to undertake extensive consultation.
“We want to be a good neighbour and demonstrate that we are authentic and genuine.”
West Torrens Council community members have expressed concerns about how they could have access to Kings Reserve under the current proposal.
They are also looking to obtain a guarantee from council and the Adelaide Football Club that over 150 mature trees on the western side of Kings Reserve can be preserved.
