Blue Mountains Gazette 19 March 2008
By Shane Desiatnik
The odds of a major supermarket chain coming to Springwood have shortened dramatically after a closed session of council on March 11.
Councillors voted 8-3 in favour of the recommendations of a confidential business paper, putting Coles and Woolworths on council's shortlist for the Springwood town centre revitalisation project.
The supermarket chains - and Jamieson Property Group - survived the cut from five expressions of interest to three to proceed to stage two of the revitalisation process for the council-owned northern and southern car parks and civic centre sites.
All five companies have been invited to submit detailed plans.
Proposals from A. Calkos Pty Ltd and Silverton Property Group Pty Ltd/Broadholdings Group Pty Ltd were rejected, but the reasoning behind that has been kept from the public.
The proposal details of the three preferred options will also remain a mystery to the general public for some time.
A council spokesperson told the Gazette that council is unable to release information on any of the proponents until further "due process" is undertaken due to the matters being commercial in confidence.
Blue Mountains mayor Jim Angel said all expressions of interest and tenders received by council are subject to a rigorous evaluation process.
The invitation period for proposals from the private sector was from November 5 to December 14, 2007.
The revitalisation project began as a result of concerns about depressed levels of retailing in Springwood, shop vacancies and a need to upgrade existing community facilities.
The next step is the preparation of a report containing options for the engagement of consultants and community consultation to develop detailed requirements for the town centre.
Springwood Chamber of commerce (SCC) secretary David Moss is hoping to learn information behind the evaluation process report in a Springwood Town Centre Advisory Committee meeting in a fortnight's time.
"I don't really have a comment at this stage other than to say I feel the result of last week's council meeting was fairly predictable," Mr Moss said.
"We really need to see the details."