Miltonbrook chairman Neville Fredericks has weighed into the debate over the $57 million Shellharbour City Hub project, arguing it should be built on the site of Shellharbour City Council's existing administration building Lamerton House.
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The former Kiama mayor said he didn't want to get caught up in the commentary over "the rights and wrongs" of the hub or its financing, but had "a locational view".
Mr Fredericks believed the current administration building and the adjacent parcel of land known as Lot 3000, which will both be sold to finance the hub, was a better location because of its proximity to the Stockland shopping centre.
Mr Fredericks said although the proposed site of the hub was only 400 metres away, it was a distance that required people to get in their cars to access.
However, Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba said bus routes would be incorporated into the hub site once it was built, and argued the current administration was already difficult to access for people with a disability and those who used public transport.
"People have to walk a long way through the centre and are then faced with steep stairs to get to the current administration building," Cr Saliba said.
The council hopes to receive $35 million from the sale of five properties to fund the construction of the project, including a 42 hectare residential site between the western edge of Albion Park and Miltonbrook's Tullimbar Village project.
The property, which has development approval for 284 housing lots and three super lots, is now in the second stage of an expressions of interest campaign.
Mr Fredericks declined to comment on the council's sale of the Tullimbar property.
The City Hub project includes new council administration offices, an auditorium, a civic square, city library, and museum and council chambers.
The key decision on the project's future is to be made in August, however, a development application would first need to be approved by the Joint Regional Planning Panel.
Last week, councillors voted 5-1 to continue the current planning process for the hub without conducting a poll of residents.