From NT Independent article: https://ntindependent.com.au/legal-action-filed-against-darwin-council-over-proposed-civic-centre/
A Federal Court application has been lodged seeking to force Darwin Council to hand over documents relating to the deal it struck with developer DCOH to build the controversial 21-storey civic centre-private office tower, along with details of how it is using ratepayer money on the project.
An originating application for an order for preliminary discovery of documents, along with affidavits, was lodged in the Federal Court on Monday by De Silva Hebron on behalf of Civitas Properties Pty Ltd, Nourse Nominees, Liveris Nominees, and Rapid Form Systems, against Darwin Council.
The specifics of the court filing were not immediately available, however lawyers acting for Darwin residents Geoff and Kerry Nourse – who have commercial and residential property in Harry Chan Avenue, near the proposed site of council’s new headquarters – wrote to the council last month stating that council members had committed at least 16 “significant” failures of governance under two acts, when sealing its secret deal with DCOH, with council asked to hand over hidden documents relating to the development.
READ: Council won’t say why legally-mandated public parking plan was dumped in favour of civic centre tower
Council announced in November its proposal to build the 21-storey hybrid civic centre-officer tower in partnership with developer DCOH at an approximate cost of $150 million, with council owning 51 per cent of the building and the developer owning 10 floors as private office space.
The council had previously allocated roughly $30 million towards building a civic centre in May 2021, but told the NT Independent the current proposal will now cost $157 million, with council contributing $77 million and DCOH contributing $80 million.
The details of how all councillors came to the decision to partner with DCOH have been suppressed from the public, so it is unknown if any other company responded to the expression of interest for the site, or what DCOH proposed, and what bargaining council undertook.
The council will own the bottom 10 floors and the roof space – which the Development Consent Authority counted as another floor – with roughly four of those floors proposed to be used for car parking.
In the letter sent to Darwin Council chief executive officer Simone Saunders on March 19, De Silva Hebron lawyer Olivia Grace-Hill said the lawyers believed that on the evidence collected, the agreement between the council and DCOH was invalid, adding that governance failures included resolutions purportedly passed by the council that did not comply with requirements of the Local Government Act, Local Government General Regulations, the council’s own governance framework and bylaws, and indicated there were also breaches of the Planning Act relating to the use of public car parking money on the building.
The March 19 letter added that non-disclosure of critical information about the project, and the proposed redevelopment itself, were contrary to the purposes of the Local Government Act, failing the required high standards of ethical conduct, governance, service delivery, asset management and financial accountability, and the need for councils to promote and assist constructive community participation in achieving effective local government.
It alleged council’s spending money from a developers’ car parking shortfall fund breached the Planning Act, which required the money collected to be used by council on public car parking infrastructure, while money from the Cavenagh Street public car park could also only be spent on public car parking.
Darwin Council did not respond to questions from the NT Independent when the letter was sent and would not provide a statement yesterday about the Federal Court filing.
The suppression of key information about the development by council led lawyers to request council hand over 16 documents within 14 days as part of its “obligation of open democratic government” to allow their clients to decide whether to take further action, and apply to the Federal Court to seek preliminary discovery.
Those documents included all internal and external reports and business papers on the redevelopment, all council meeting minutes, the design brief given to developers through the expression of interest, documents showing the council’s consideration of the EOI, the council’s costings of the redevelopment, documents showing why the council made the meetings and documents about the redevelopment confidential, and the agreement between council and the developer.
Use of money intended for public car park spaces a major issue
Council plans show there will be 460 car parking spaces in the new building, which it claims 50 of which will be owned by the developer.
The DCA previously ruled 258 car parking spaces were required under the Planning Act to service a building of its kind and size, with the remaining 202 spots ruled to be part of the so-called “public” car park.
Council previously said it will be spending $30 million on the car park component of the building with money held in two different trusts from the Darwin Central Business District levy and Car Parking Development Contributions, known as the ‘developer shortfall levy’.
It also said it would use $14.1 million from the sale of Cavenagh St land, that was the site of a 391-spaced public car park, as a contribution to the construction cost for the rest of the building.
The Darwin Central Business District levy was created in 1983 to pay for the West Lane multi-story car park and the legislation says it is to be used for “the provision, operation and maintenance of land, facilities, services and improvements in relation to the parking of vehicles in Central Darwin”.
The legislation pertaining to the developer shortfall levy prescribes that the council must develop a plan which specifies exactly how and when the money is to be spent. The council’s Car Parking Contribution Plan Central Business Zone on its website was produced in 2007 and specifies a commitment for council to build two multi-storey car parks with a combined 1800 car spaces.
The council would not say if that plan, which does not reference a car park inside the civic centre building, had ever been updated and why council believed it was able to spend the money in the way in which it plans.