Ecoville Community Park may be put on the market after Wyndham council refused an offer to take over the running of the site.
The council last week rebuffed a request from the Ecoville owners corporation to take ownership of Ecoville Park and fix up the site, instead agreeing to take over a small parcel of land on the corner of Leakes Road and Crossway Avenue, which is adjacent to council-owned land.
Councillor Kim McAliney said she shared the community’s concerns about safety in and around Ecoville Park, but believed taking responsibility for the site would burden the council with significant maintenance costs.
“Taking the community park over is a liability … it also sets a precedent for the body corporates so when situations like this occur, council will be the saviour.”
Fellow councillor Josh Gilligan, who was in favour of the council taking on Ecoville Park, said the decision to walk away from the site would “lead to months of further uncertainty” for residents.
Andrew Yates from Strata Data, the appointed owners corporation manager, said the owners corporation believed the council would have been in a better position to manage the site in the long term.
“This is a particularly complicated issue that we think everyone would agree extends far further than the resources and responsibility of the 358 owners and residents at Ecoville,” Mr Yates said.
“It was considered by the owners that the resources of local council are better equipped and ultimately more responsible to handle these societal issues.”
Mr Yates said in light of the council’s decision, the owners corporation was “currently considering all options in relation to the future of the park, including continuing to investigate the option of selling off [the] park for redevelopment”.
