Inside the $14 million battle to fix a northern Sydney hole in the ground

The news

Ratepayers could be hit with a $14 million bill to clean up the hole-in-the-ground Ryde Central site before it is safe to open to the public as a green space.

Ryde councillors will vote on Tuesday night on how to spend millions of dollars to fix the abandoned site.

The triangular block of land, next to the Top Ryde City Shopping Centre in Sydney’s north, has sat as a hole in the ground since the council ripped up its old Civic Centre in 2021 in the hopes of building a new one. When the Herald visited the site on Monday, after a weekend of heavy rain, a significant portion of the area was underwater.

In the absence of a civic centre, the council voted in January to make the site an open green space – but doing so requires cleaning it up.

The report said the cheapest scenario, covering the construction waste with either grass or concrete, would cost the council $4.95 million. Removing the waste, rather than covering it, and adding grass or concrete would cost an additional $5.6 million.

The cost of removing the waste, plus adding plants, a “minor structural covering” and seats would cost $11.8 million, and if lights and other features were added, the project would cost $14.3 million.

How we got here

In January, Ryde councillors requested council staff investigate how much it would cost to make the site safe to use as an open green space. The decision made by councillors on Tuesday night will be based on that report.

Having effectively given up hope of paying for full construction of the site following the original plan of its $110 million Heart of Ryde development – that was supposed to contain the council chambers, community rooms, a childcare centre, shops, office spaces, a public plaza and a cultural facility seating up to 700 people – councillors decided it was better to open the space for public use while they assessed their options.

It was the latest in a long string of dramas about the site.

In May last year, the council referred itself to the Independent Commission Against Corruption over concerns it had misused $35.5 million in developer contributions set aside for other uses.

In November, the council claimed it needed to sell off the site because it was in a “precarious” financial situation – a claim rubbished by a former state auditor-general, who had analysed the City of Ryde’s finances for the Herald and declared the council was in an “exceptionally strong financial position”.

That month, councillors voted to defer the project and not sell it to developers, refusing to build the centre as a joint venture because they did not want apartments on the site.

And in March this year, Liberal Mayor Sarkis Yedelian – who had faced criticism over his handling of the matter – was replaced by fellow Liberal Trenton Brown.

Why it matters

The future of Ryde Central is the most contested issue in the area. For years, councillors have used various iterations of the saga as evidence of failure by their political opponents. And leading up to September’s local government elections, the issue is already running hot.

If councillors vote to accept one of the costed options to cover up the site and open it as a public space on Tuesday, it will be confirmation that Ryde Council does not have the money it needs to fulfil its lofty vision.

Whatever happens, Ryde residents will have spent at least five years without a council chamber or the green space.

What they said

Ryde’s Liberal Mayor Trenton Brown said the Heart of Ryde building would cost $160-180 million if it were built today, and there was no way the council had enough money to pay for it.

“That would result in every household paying $2800 over four years. And that’s just not feasible.”

But Labor’s Bernard Purcell, a vocal critic of the project, said his view was that the “cynical exercise” of covering up the hole “just kicks the problem down the road for someone else to clean up”.

Another perspective

Independent Roy Maggio – who has a chance at being mayor in the council’s first direct vote for the top job in September – said “the whole place is a basketcase” because of how council handled the site.

“No one understands the dynamics of it,” he said. “We’re so close to being sacked because of this poor management.”

What’s next?

Ryde councillors will vote on the issue at its monthly council meeting (which is being held in temporary office facilities at the next-door shopping centre) on Tuesday night.

If the costs are agreed to, construction would be able to begin relatively shortly. But the Liberal mayor and independent councillors have signalled they will make amendments to the motion.

More reading

This civic centre is a hole in the ground. Council needs $113m to fill it

Council decides to keep former civic centre site as publicly owned hole in the ground

‘Rats in the camp’: Fury as mayor replaced amid fight over $20 million crater

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