THE owners of one of the region’s largest shopping centres is accusing Logan City Council of cutting deals behind closed doors, jeopardising future investor confidence in Logan.
RG Property’s CEO Rhett Williams honed in on the council’s Neighbourhood Plan, saying it was being changed without appropriate community consultation.
The group owns Park Ridge Shopping Centre which has multiple entries and feels it should be considered a key stakeholder in the area’s planning, but a land swap deal being negotiated by council was behind changes to the original roadwork plans.
Mr Williams says council officers, nor councillors, will speak about the proposed changes.
It is strange that a there has been no effort from council to engage with the owners of the town centre in this dispute ever since the change was announced in the media back in January 2021, a spokesperson from RG Property said.
The company has consequently called on council for transparency, and to disclose to Park Ridge residents the changes they’re proposing to the approved neighbourhood plan.
The change in question is to an original agreement to connect Jedfire Street to Doug White Drive – something Mr Williams says council was no longer planning to do.
Mr Williams said he was concerned council wasn’t following due process.
“I’m concerned Logan City Council is making unilateral decisions and redrawing neighbourhood plans behind closed doors, rather than making decisions for the benefit of the whole community,” he said.
“I don’t think ratepayers are asking for too much, they deserve to have a say about the future of their suburb.
“RG Property has had a good working relationship with the Logan City Council and is disappointed that on this matter it has not been reciprocal.”
RG Property claims it spent $500,000 building half of Jedfire Street in 2016, as part of a deal to redevelop Park Ridge Town Centre.
“It is a key access point to the local shops and services and Council seems to be fine with shutting locals out,” Mr Williams said.
The initial development application that was approved by council in June 2014. In December 2020, council announced it would be closing the road entirely.
RG Property also have expansion plans for the Town Centre submitted to Logan City Council which relies on access from the section of Jedfire Street, Mr Williams said.
“This is part of the growth of the Town Centre and will provide new services to locals. However, this is now at risk with council’s deviation from the Road Network Strategy outlined within the Neighbourhood Plan.
“The Park Ridge Shopping Centre has grown from a small strip of shops to a major centre that employs hundreds of people – it’s become the centre of town.”
Mr Williams said the people of Logan should be concerned that their council may be entering into land swap deals that conflict with endorsed neighbourhood Planning documents without following due process.”
Council did not answer questions about community consultation plans, nor did it address an alleged land swap deal.
Questions were posed to Cr Jacob Heremaia, however a generic statement from a council spokesperson said: “Adding another road into this intersection is not a desirable outcome for safety and capacity considerations.”
The statement said the roundabout would become a set of traffic lights.
