CALLS for more information and public consultation over the sale of council-owned land were made when a report about Redland Investment Corporation was tabled on Wednesday.
The corporation, run by a board of directors including chief executive Bill Lyon, was set up in June to manage and sell "surplus" council land.
Mayor Karen Williams said another primary reason for establishing Redlands Investment Corporation was to manage the complex land ownership of priority development areas at Toondah Harbour and Weinam Creek ferry terminals.
She said the corporation would ensure those developments could proceed efficiently with smooth relationships between private and state sectors “to deliver world-class waterfront projects for our community”.
Since the corporation was established, council has sold one site, 108 Old Cleveland Road, Capalaba. The vacant block, used as a car park for Capalaba’s Bulldog Soccer Club at John Fredericks Park, sold for $2.33million in April.
Division 2 councillor Craig Ogilvie said as far as he was aware, that sale was not made public and blamed community speculation and anxiety about the lack of transparency for the corporation and its activities.
He said ratepayers were also sceptical about council's intentions to rezone parks in the planning scheme before transferring them to the corporation and called for public discussions about the fate of the blocks.
Cr Ogilvie said resolutions had been made on some properties during a workshop but that information had not been made public.
"What the community is nervous about is that perhaps there is a secret list sitting behind the walls of this building that they don't know about ... but we all know we have sat here and discussed a list of properties."
Mayor Karen Williams gave Cr Ogilive a warning about misleading the meeting and said there had been no secrets and the fate of blocks of land was discussed through Council's Open Space strategy, which targeted "surplus" land.
Cr Williams also called for the corporation’s Statement of Intent to be made public – even though the document has been available on council’s website since June.
Cr Murray Elliott urged ratepayers to lodge their views on which pieces of "surplus" council land should be sold, during the consultation period for the City Plan 2015, which ends on November 27.
He said he was not afraid of selling any land deemed surplus and said the previous council had also touted the idea.
Although Cr Elliott said he agreed details should be public, he added it was necessary for council to hold confidential meetings over land sales.
He said council had been upfront about the proposal to sell off "surplus" land as all blocks were listed in the planning scheme.
Mr Lyon said it was "very unfortunate" confidential documents were leaked but said public land cost council about $11million a year to maintain.
He said the corporation was run by independent directors under a statement of corporate intent and all land decisions would be made public.
He also said the sale of the land at Old Cleveland Road was fully disclosed.
"We've set up a very transparent process that as each block comes up to be considered that will be discussed in council and transferred by a resolution in council to the Redland Investment Corporation," he said.
"... councillors will have opportunity through the resolutions to go to community consultations or whatever you please to do."
