Village lease to be negotiated

Gosford Council will negotiate with three potential operators of The Ettalong Beach Village before issuing a 10-year lease for the manufactured home and tourist park.

The park is fully developed with 85 long-term sites occupied by private manufactured homes, 30 short-term sites comprising of 22 holiday cabins and eight powered caravan sites.

Gosford Council recently resolved not to call tenders for the lease of Lot 1 Fassifern St, Ettalong Beach, due to "extenuating circumstances".

Council officers stated that a call for expressions of interest for the site showed a lack of competitive tenderers.

Council currently owns the site which has been leased to Oakhut Pty Ltd for 17 years, a lease which expires on October 9, with the permitted use being Caravan Park and Camping Ground.

During its tenure, Oakhut Pty Ltd constructed infrastructure including paved roads, drainage, sewerage, manager's accommodation, an amenities building, holiday cabins, swimming pool, barbecue facilities, fencing and landscaping, and ancillary facilities.

Council officers stated that: "Part of the current lease allows the lessee to remove these fixtures from the site".

Council officers stated that this would render the site "inoperable", should negotiations for acceptable compensation fail.

"Interested operators expressed an interest during the site inspection to negotiate separate compensation with the current operator to retain the above fixtures on site.

"Should the matter proceed to tender, the lessee's fixtures will need to be assessed by independent valuation and agreement reached in order for a compensation figure to be included in the tender documentation.

"A new operator will need to negotiate a price for all the fixtures.

"Should agreement not be reached, the existing operator may elect to remove the items rendering the park inoperable."

Expressions of Interest were received from Oakhut Pty Ltd, Australian Tourist Park Management and Kenneth Owens.

Council agenda COR.66, 28 Aug 2007