Boat and bike hire businesses on Canberra's Lake Burley Griffin fear being thrown out to make way for the government's ambitious redevelopment of West Basin.
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Jim Seears, who runs the paddle boat hire, says the government has told him he has no valid lease and must close up shop as early as the end of the coming summer season.
The Mr Spokes bike hire business is in a stronger position; owning the building and a lease that runs until 2027. But owners Martin Shanahan and Jillian Edwards say they, too, are getting short shrift from the government, which has threatened to resume the lease under the Lands Acquisition Act if they can't come to a deal.
"The stress is unreal," Mr Spokes owner Martin Shanahan said. "They are treating us as an afterthought, yet our livelihood is at stake. We are just hardworking small businesspeople sitting in the middle of a billion-dollar project."
The government is building a $800,000 pop-up village of shipping containers on the car park near Mr Spokes. Due to be completed in a couple of months, it is designed to bring people and activity to the lakefront while the much more ambitious plans take shape, starting next year with new boardwalks, a new street, cycle and pedestrian paths and the release of the first parcel of lakefront land for residential and commercial development. The quiet bay where Mr Seears runs his paddle-boat business will be reclaimed, with plans for an urban beach and swimming pool.
Mr Shanahan and Ms Edwards are paying off the bike hire lease and building they bought in 2006 for what they said was a large sum. Mr Shanahan said the ACT government granted the previous owner a new long-term lease so he could sell the business for a good price, against the advice of the National Capital Authority, which had pointed to plans for long-term development at the site.
He said the bike fleet was due for replacement, but they were reluctant to spend the $60,000 needed with no idea how much longer they would be allowed to operate.
Mr Shanahan said he did not want to stand in the way of development, but wanted the value of the business recognised and some certainty about timing.
Mr Seears is in a more difficult situation, having a 20-year sub-lease with his brother, Pat, about 10 years ago. His brother has the head-lease with the government. Government officials had told him he had no valid lease, despite charging him stamp duty on the lease he signed with his brother about 2004. "Pat's not throwing me out, the Land Development Agency's throwing me out," he said.
His business reopens after the winter break on August 30, and he had been told he had until the end of the season. Mr Seears, who feared being thrown out still sooner by making his concerns public, said he would be left with nothing. About to turn 60, his age and arthritis would make him unemployable.
The stress of losing the business comes on top of a much greater personal stress, with wife Cony, who is in her late 40s and runs the business with him, diagnosed with a brain tumour a fortnight ago.
"I have got that on top of these idiots trying to ruin my life," Mr Seears said. "What can I do?"
The government has refused to say how long the boat and bike hire leases have to run. Deputy chief executive of the Land Development Agency Dan Stewart said the information was commercial in confidence, as were discussions with the businesses. Negotiations were complex and sensitive. Asked whether there were plans to resume the leases, he said "not in the near future", but a possibility for the longer term included "to temporarily relocate either or both businesses during a future construction phase and/or to a new permanent facility/location".