A CLEVELAND kindy has has a mild victory after entering negotiations to buy a piece of Redland council land it is using for a play area.
Details of the sale of the 656sq m site remain confidential but council will enter a "lease to purchase" agreement with the Lutheran Church.
The purchase of the site will mean St James Lutheran Community Kindergarten and Childcare Centre will be able to keep its playground in John Street.
A report will be compiled on the deal which will not be able to proceed without council consent.
The kindy made an impassioned plea to council in September after Redland City Bulletin named John Street as a block council hoped to rezone from community purposes to commercial use under the new city plan.
Parents feared rezoning the 656sqm block for commercial use would pave the way for development forcing the centre to scale back operations.
Parents started a petition but in December, the council backflipped on its plan to rezone surplus community lands. It also axed plans to transfer the blocks to council's investment arm, Redland Investment Corporation.
Mayor Karen Williams said the church agreed to buy the council land to ensure it had full control over the site and allow it to plan for the future.
"We made a conscious effort to go out to community consultation ... and (said) we would listen to the residents of Redlands ... and not rezone or make any decisions until we have had that feedback," she said.
The latest move prompted complaints from councillors Murray Elliott, Craig Ogilvie, Lance Hewlett and Paul Bishop who said they did not have enough time to consider the proposal.
Cr Elliott said he believed singling out one site for sale would set a precedence and the move was just "mopping up" errors from the planning scheme review.
"Why would you go into a lease when a permit to occupy does the same thing and lasts up to two years," Cr Elliott said.
Council does not have to put the sale of the site up for tender if offering land to a not-for-profit group.
Officers will report back to council on whether the church will bear the costs of the sale of the site.
Division 9 councillor Paul Gleeson voted against allowing the sale deal to proceed.
A lease to purchase agreement allows a tenant to pay for land over a period of time with an option to pay a balance.