That’s one of the ideas being floated as Bathurst Regional Council considers the State Govern-ment’s “no strings” offer to give council the ownership of that precinct – and considers ways to reduce the burden on ratepayers.

The government’s original deadline of March 31 for a decision has already been extended to June 30.

A behind-closed-doors meeting of council on Monday night shed more light on what has become a controversial topic.

Departmental heads, including council’s director of environmental planning and building services David Shaw, presented the latest reports and information on what council can expect if it takes over the TAFE building.

Mayor Monica Morse said yesterday it’s probably the most important decision this council will make.

“It’s vital,” she said. “However, I think residents should realise it’s not just about the old TAFE building. There’s a 6000 square metre area of prime CBD land involved. At present we lease the old school building for the Somerville Collection from the state government and that’s also included.

“There’s also three car parks in there. Now we have a lot more information on the table and can now go to a second working party, probably in May, where we will get a clearer indication of how councillors feel.

“From there I anticipate it will go to the June meeting of council for a decision. I must stress that at this stage I have not asked councillors for their opinion either way on the situation.”

Councillor Jess Jennings, who was at the meeting, said good progress is being made and many questions are now being answered.

“Up until now there have been a lot of gaps in the information that we have about this offer,” he said. “Now we have the latest on things like asbestos reports, building codes, maintenance costs and potential heritage implications.

“There were so many unknown factors that proved we needed more time than the original three months given by the state government.

“We are by no means ruling out significant commercial or corporate involvement, but for me it’s all about getting the vision in place for how we use that space.

“If we get that right then it would be a worthwhile venture with massive tourism and economic development benefit. There is the possibility for a residential factor with apartments being part of that mix.”

Cr Jennings said the money isn’t available to council in the short term to cover the cost of rejuvenating the TAFE building, and it would need some sort of private partnership.

“That’s why we have to have a plan,” he said. “I will make my decision based on a level of confidence that a vision can be put together that would do it justice and I don’t think that would be a hard target to achieve.

“This is a unique space remaining in the CBD and, as part of the whole Town Square scenario, it presents an opportunity that should not be lost.

“If we get it right, Bathurst could be able to develop an economic tourism opportunity capable of knocking all its tourism competitors out of the park.”

Cr Bobby Bourke believes this decision is one of the most important he will make as a councillor.

“Heritage is important to this town and I have been criticised in the past for my stance on certain issues relating to this,” he said. 

“My opinion has always been that the TAFE building should be in council’s hands and it would be a loss to the city if it wasn’t. Paul Toole handed the keys over to me, so I won’t be giving them back.”

Cr Bourke believes the councillor numbers are shaping to take up the state government’s offer.

“We really won’t know until the night of the vote, though.”