Battle lines drawn over Kings Cross park

Eleven residents resisting Council plans to make over Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross, site of the El Alamein Fountain, received scant sympathy at a 2pm Committee meeting on Monday, with Lord Mayor Clover Moore insisting the upgrade was in response to long-standing community requests.

However the consultation had been “fixed”, said Adrian Bartels who spoke on behalf of two residents’ associations, the Kings Cross Community Centre and well-known locals including Warren Fahey, Mandy Sayer, Louis Nowra, plus the Potts Point and Kings Cross Business Partnership. He said this represented a strong and unanimous community voice.

He requested the process be delayed for three months to allow a more representative community meeting, one in which the community could speak and vote on whether there should be a complete upgrade or just minor refurbishments.

But Ms Moore and staff said the upgrade was planned in response to community priorities dating from the 2007 City East Local Action Plan (LAP). Council’s report on that LAP, while not providing a breakdown of comments received, says residents wanted the Gardens “refreshed” and “revitalised”.

However 2011 Residents Association had objected to the LAP in 2006, writing: “We doubt that Fitzroy Gardens needs ‘revitalising’. It works fine right now as a quiet haven in the middle of the Cross. Upgrade the playground by all means, and consider improving the green space at the back of the park. But again, please consult before designs are made.”

Mr Bartels argues: “For the residents, ‘refurbish’ means spend only thousands doing something about the ibis-poo, fixing the pavers, and fixing the lights. For Council, ‘refurbish’ means spending millions to dig the whole place up, fracturing an already fractured community by putting a construction zone at the very heart of it.”

Then Council’s 2008 consultation showed there was no real support to change the Gardens, but this was interpreted otherwise.

Residents were asked what they liked about the existing Gardens, and what they did not like. There were 146 comments about what people liked while only 66 listed things they did not like. But these negative comments fall over under scrutiny – 28 didn’t like the Ibis poo, which the upgrade plans do not address; 17 cited broken pavers, which have long been fixed; 11 disliked the “ugly” Police Station, which is outside the scope of the project; and 10 didn’t like the markets, although 37 others did.

Many comments said clearly “leave it as it is” but these were ignored in Council’s report.

Cr Chris Harris said “the consultation seems reasonable” and praised some aspects of the new design but agreed with resident Andrew Woodhouse that the planned seating was inferior to existing seats, adding that the current plans might be “too interventionist”. He said the water features in the playground at Pirrama Park in Pyrmont were a hit, and recommended similar for Kings Cross.

Some Councillors broke ranks, however, notably Phillip Black who argued the existing Gardens had strong heritage value.

Cr Shayne Mallard read out an email from local author Delia Falconer, who praised the present heritage-rich design:

“What I see in its current design, with intimate little ‘rooms’, different levels, and hexagonal plantings that mirror the Fountain, is one of the last hints of Vietnam-era 60s and 70s Kings Cross: one of the very significant phases in the area’s history.”

Cr Marcelle Hoff said she had “a sense that people wanted things fixed, not rebuilt.”

Ms Moore decided to send the item to next week’s Council meeting without recommendation.