TWO blocks of council-owned land originally purchased for public parking space will be sold off.
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Shellharbour City Council resolved at its last meeting to seek expressions of interest for blocks of land in Oak Flats and Warilla CBDs.
Both sites were identified in the council's former Section 94 plans but were deemed "unsuitable" for public parking and in such a state of disrepair that it wouldn't be financially viable for the council to rebuild for community use.
The sale money will go into CBD projects including the new Warilla Library and the Oak Flats street scaping project.
The Warilla site on Brian Avenue was purchased in 1999 and has been vacant since 2012.
Councillor Peter Moran likened the move to "the retreat of American soldiers" from Saigon, Vietnam, in 1975.
"Council is pulling out of Warilla's commercial centre at all-speed and soon there will be nothing left there of ours," he said.
"We've had an asset that we have just sat on for years ... And lost three years of rent.
"The time for us to be making decisions about the Brian Avenue, Warilla, site would have been when it first became vacant."
Councillor John Murray said the sale of the Warilla site would be of "economic benefit to Warilla town centre".
"It's not an asset in the sense that it is going to make us any money, it's more of an asset if the community get hold of it and do something constructive," he said.
The council's director corporate policy Lee Furness said the disposal of the two sites was because the council had accumulated assets in the past that it wasn't able to manage.
"We simply didn't have enough money for the asset base we have," she said.
Councillor Kellie Marsh said it was "yet another" asset up for sale that had been "sprung" on councillors at the last minute and subsequently moved against the motion.
"It should be retained for community and car parking."
"We just seem to keep taking things out of Warilla," she said, "another buyer is now to benefit from council's neglect."
Mayor Marianne Saliba said the council was "not walking away from Warilla" but rather opening up opportunities for other businesses to move in and develop the CBD.
Councillor Paul Rankin said he would have preferred to wait for the Warilla library plans to be drawn up and for a report on rebuilding costs.
"We have no idea what we're building, or what it will cost. Yet we are selling a council asset anywhere between six to 18 months ahead of time when, if we tart it up a bit, we may be able to get more money for it," he said. The matter is expected to come back to council.
