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Clarence Valley Council will pay for the upgrade of the orange and purple coloured sections of the Maclean car park, to accommodate the construction of the new IGA supermarket. CVC staff advised that the purple section (no expected heavy vehicles) was in “better condition, however, there is merit in completing the renewal over the complete precinct at the same time”. Staff advised that the purple section “will require reconstruction within the next five years” and that “the cost to do this work in isolation in the future will be more expensive and create a greater disruption”. Image: Contributed

CVC contributes $290.6k towards car park’s reconstruction

Geoff Helisma |

Clarence Valley Council will contribute $290,656.93 (inclusive of GST) towards the reconstruction of its road pavement areas on the eastern and northern sides of the new IGA supermarket currently under construction in Maclean.

The reconstruction will be carried out on CVC’s behalf by the site contractor, CIRCON, at the same time it completes pavement replacement within the construction site’s boundaries.

Councillors unanimously supported the action, without debate or questions, at the April 23 council meeting.

Staff advised councillors in their report that “construction of the supermarket will change the traffic situation in the area, most particularly where the goods deliveries will be made”.

“The former car park and internal roads were constructed to cater predominantly for cars and other light vehicles and not large delivery vehicles,” the report stated.

“In general, the developer is required to upgrade the areas where the changes to the traffic loading require strengthening of the road pavement.

“In discussions with council officers, the principle has been agreed that for locations where the former pavement is in an acceptable condition for the former use, then any upgrading should be at the full expense of the developer.

“In areas where the pavement was in a poor state, and not adequate for the former traffic loadings, then it is appropriate that council contributes to the cost to upgrade the pavement to cater for the new traffic loadings.

“…It is also considered advantageous for the work to be carried out concurrently with the supermarket construction by the site contractor, as this will minimise disruption and additional project management costs for council.”

Details of how the total cost was ascertained are confidential, however, staff reported to councillors that CVC sought input from a quantity surveyor (QS) to check the “quantities … identified for the various components of the work, as well as industry rates for each component”. “Applying the actual tendered rates to the quantities determined by the QS shows a 5% lower total cost from using the developer/contractor quantities,” the report to council stated.

“This difference is considered to be acceptable.”

The work will be paid for from the available budget in the 2018-19 operational plan – $300,000 for Maclean car park road surface renewal.