The ACT government and balance-of-power Green Shane Rattenbury left it too late to address anger over an unsolicited bid to redevelop Manuka Oval, according to community leaders.
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On Friday Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the $800 million proposal to develop a hotel, serviced apartments, retail, residential and office space, while upgrading the oval, was outside community expectations.
But fallout from the way the government handled the Melbourne-based Grocon/Greater Western Sydney Giants unsolicited bid continues.
Kingston Barton Residents' Group spokesman Peter Moore said Mr Barr had made a temporary concession for electoral purposes. "It's just a knee-jerk reaction and is an extremely cynical move on his part. If he thinks people will be fooled by it, then he has probably got another thing coming," Mr Moore said.
On Sunday Mr Barr said there were strongly held views in the community for and against improving Manuka Oval.
"Most recent events [AFL and cricket] have been sold out, suggesting an extremely high level of community support for major events at the venue," he said.
"Having extensively canvassed community opinion it is clear that majority of Canberrans support a sensible level of improvement at the venue," Mr Barr said.
Friends of Manuka Pool president Clive Hamilton said people were disappointed in all members of the ACT Legislative Assembly. He was particularly disappointed in Mr Rattenbury.
"I would have expected the Greens to look at this [unsolicited bid] once and just say no," Mr Hamilton said
Mr Rattenbury said from the start he had called for more collaboration, and was the only MLA to have attended a public meeting on the issue in April, and had wanted to weigh up everything first. "These things can take a long time to work through the process, months, years," he said.
Some people thought elements of the plan had merit, Mr Rattenbury said.
Mr Hamilton said the Grocon/GWS consortium's future at Manuka was tenuous because of hostility it had generated in the community. The consortium had discovered having political heavyweights on side wasn't enough, he said.
"The fiasco that Manuka Green was sends a strong message to developers planning any development to expect strong community opposition," Mr Hamilton said. "We won round one and it puts us in a strong position to win the fight."
Mr Hamilton said the government should not stack the community consultation panel engaged in master planning with pro-development people.
The Kingston and Barton Residents' Group said the community had been campaigning against the proposal since the Manuka Occasional Childcare Centre land swap surfaced in February, 2015. Community groups and many individuals worked hard to save Telopea Park School's tennis courts and MOCCA no longer needing to move.
"The Barr government has finally seen reason and accepted that Canberrans want a say in large-scale developments. Canberrans want a fair and transparent planning and development process not driven by developers," the group said.
"The impact of large-scale developments is permanent and will impact many generations to come. Manuka Oval is a significant part of the Canberra landscape so it is important to plan its future through a considered process."
The group remains cautious about what lies ahead. "We look forward to seeing more detail on the community panel and look for assurances that the local residents are represented alongside users of the oval.
The group combined with Save Manuka Pool to gather 500 signatures on a petition calling on the government to reject the redevelopment bid .
