A controversial proposal to ban new car dealerships in Hobart’s CBD has been deferred to a workshop after a tense council meeting where the motion was labelled “half-baked” and an insult to the automotive industry.
Councillor Ryan Posselt’s motion, presented to Hobart City Council on Monday, sought to prohibit new broadacre car yards in central Hobart and identify alternative sites on the city’s outskirts.
The proposal was put on hold after Councillor John Kelly successfully moved to defer the motion until proper stakeholder consultation could occur and statistics gathered.
“This … is a huge thing to do and we’ve got a lot of business confidence riding on this sort of thing,” Kelly said.
He criticised the lack of consultation with affected businesses, calling the motion “nothing more than a half-baked, attention-seeking motion that is just a pathetic thought bubble”.
“It’s an insult to those people, from the big owners down to the first year apprentice,” he said.
The proposal attracted fierce opposition from the Tasmanian Automotive Chamber of Commerce and the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who warned it would hurt the local economy and create sovereign risk issues for existing landholders.
TACC chief executive Peter Jones said the proposal “would inflict severe and unjustified harm on businesses, consumers and the broader Tasmanian economy”.
Housing advocacy group YIMBY Hobart backed the motion, arguing car yards were “a terrible use of central city land” that could instead accommodate medium-density housing.
As of September, 5,336 households were on Tasmania’s social housing waiting list.
Mr Posselt defended his proposal as future-focused, saying 45,000 square metres of central Hobart land is currently used for vehicle sales and servicing.
“When do we say enough and use our inner city land with an eye to the wellbeing of the people that we represent rather than the multinational corporations that the brands represent?” he said.
He argued that converting this land to four-storey buildings would create 200,000 square metres for residential, retail and hospitality uses while reducing CBD traffic congestion.
The motion was triggered after news that car dealership company Tony White Group purchased the 11,800-square-metre former K&D site on Melville Street from the University of Tasmania for $31 million.
Posselt said the ban would only be prospective and wouldn’t affect existing businesses.
Councillors Will Coats, Gemma Kitsos, Bill Harvey, Zelinda Sherlock, Aldermen Marti Zucco and Louise Bloomfield joined Mr Kelly in voting to defer the motion.
Council officers indicated planning amendments are already being developed to prohibit large car yards while allowing smaller showrooms as a discretionary use.
