Council identified the Bakery Hill public car parks, located at 5 Peel Street South and 28-32 Peel Street North, as potential sites for commercial mixed-use or housing redevelopment in November last year following an independent feasibility assessment by Ernst and Young.

By design, the proposed sales would aim to kick-start the substantial private sector investment needed to give effect to the full vision underlying council's 30-year Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall Urban Renewal Plan, adopted in October 2019, focused on refashioning the entire precinct into a striking mixed-use inner-city centre.

Council documents released ahead of this Wednesday's ordinary meeting make clear the two car parks would be sold on the condition they are redeveloped into "exemplars of the development envisaged" for the much-maligned precinct.

"The aspiration is for the [two sites] to be an active and vibrant place during the day and night, and a sought-after place to live for a diverse range of people," the documents read.

"Development should offer environmental, social and economically sustainable outcomes to the Bakery Hill Precinct whilst still being responsive to the historical context of the area."

IN OTHER NEWS

Should council agree to the commercial redevelopment of the two parcels of land this week, 30 car spaces at 28-32 Peel Street North and 49 car spaces at 5 Peel Street South - two of which are disabled spots - will be lost.

Community concern around the potential sale of the public car parks has to date largely turned on the implications of these lost car spaces, both as a matter of access and in terms of lost custom for local businesses.

But in the view of council officers, these concerns have since lost their force, with the Victorian government having recently identified sites for the 1000 new free car park spaces it promised Ballarat four years ago. Up to 600 of these parking spaces will be located in two multi-level car parks to be constructed in Bakery Hill.

"Council considers that the public parking currently being provided [at the two car parks] will be more than adequately replaced over time by the state government [regional car parks] fund," council documents read.

One of the new multi-level car parks is set to be built in the Little Bridge Street shopping precinct, snuggled between Anderson Street East and Sharwood Street, and the other on Anderson Street West with access provided from Dana Street.

Neither site, however, is expected to be fully constructed until 2024 at the earliest, meaning the community could be deprived of adequate car park spaces in the area for at least 18 to 24 months.

Notably, as part of the sale process for the two Peel Street sites, council must set aside a period of "community engagement" before the sales can be finalised.

Though council officers have indicated their desire to start that process immediately - assuming council approves the plans for sale - the scope and nature of that consultation is not, on the face of the prepared procurement documents, immediately obvious.

In particular, it's not clear how any public consultation with respect to the proposed sales will ultimately bear upon council's final selection of suitable buyers.

Councillors will meanwhile also consider a recommendation that international architecture firm Hassell - the force behind the council-endorsed concept designs for stage one of the Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall redevelopment - be tasked with preparing the final, tender-ready plans for the precinct.

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