Mandurah CEO Mihovilovich says city would have to take King Carnival to court to recover $200k demolition fee

In an extraordinary move, the City of Mandurah has threatened to take the former owners of King Carnival to court to recoup a $200,000 budget blowout. The carnival closed on February 2 after being located at the western foreshore site for 37 years. The city refused to extend the carnival’s lease in favour of a new entertainment hub featuring a microbrewery, chocolate factory and mini-golf. The development is yet to be approved, as the site is Crown land managed by the State Government. For six months, the site has become increasingly feral, with vandals tagging the remaining structures, breaking glass and kicking holes in walls, meanwhile, Mandurah has been hit by massive storms, leaving the trees bedraggled and fallen branches scattered about. At Tuesday’s council meeting, Cr Ryan Burns flagged the $200,000 increase in operating expenditure for the Western foreshore commercial site after receiving a budget overview. In the budget papers, $200,000 had been included to cover the demolition of structures left behind after the site was vacated in February. “That $200,000 figure, one concern is that it could potentially blow out even more. Could I get a sense of how that was estimated?” Cr Burns asked. “And secondly, from memory, and I may well be wrong, there was already half a million dollars or thereabouts set aside for this... if there was, can the city look at that expenditure and see if there are some funds available?” Mandurah chief executive Casey Mihovilovich responded that the demolition costs were not included within funds set aside for the Western Foreshore development. “This was not budgeted; the budget adopted related to other items of expenditure, and certainly wasn’t related to the demolition, because the lessee was required to return the site, and unfortunately, we will have to take legal action for that to be recovered,” Ms Mihovilovich added. According to Ms Mihovilovich, the $200,000 would come from an increase in the operating deficit or mid-year budget review, as there were no discretionary funds available. Earlier in the week, the city installed a sign at the site acknowledging the mess. “We know this site isn’t looking its best right now, and we share your desire to get it cleaned up,” the sign read. “The proprietors of King Carnival were required to clear this site when their lease ended. As this did not happen, the city has had to step in. “Before starting work, we were required to follow a 60-day legal process before we could even source partners to clean up the site. “We are now working, within the rules around procurement and safety, to get this space cleared and cleaned up as quickly as possible.” Admittedly, the site had become rundown over the years, but speaking in February, former carnival owner David Miller said he did not want to spend millions on upgrades without a permanent lease. On Thursday, Mr Miller said they weren’t responsible for the structures left behind. Mr Miller said he’d had no communication from the city before they received a letter about the demolition works last week regarding the demolition costs. Before David Miller leased the site, it was leased by Bob Crowley. Mr Miller said the buildings that remained today were already on the site when he took over the lease from Crowley in 1999. “I don’t think we are responsible for it, because we didn’t build the buildings,” Mr Miller told the Times. “Whatever buildings we put in, we took away. So everything we put in was gone, and whatever’s left is what was already there when we moved into the location. “We just went by the lease. If you rent a building, you don’t own the building, and since when do you have to pull the building down when you leave?” Mr Miller said it was an odd situation. “The whole site’s been a headache. You know it’s been a disaster all the way through,” he added. The demolition includes removing the old bumper car building, a concession stand, a building that housed carnival games, fencing, paths, mini golf, and trees. In recent months, the site has become popular among Urbex explorers, who have posted dozens of videos exploring the abandoned carnival. These videos show smashed windows, sprayed graffiti, and broken walls. At Tuesday night’s meeting, Cr Burns also asked for clarification around the yellow tagged trees at the site. It was revealed that any trees with yellow bands would remain, while other trees could be removed. During previous discussions about the Western Foreshore development, the city had promised that tree cover would actually increase. Cr Bob Pond asked if there was an alternate way of dealing with the site to avoid the $200,000 demo cost. Ms Mihovilovich said that the option of fencing the site had been looked at. Cr Amber Kearns said members of the community had offered to help clean up the site. The Director of Natural Environment said this option would raise liability issues as only a licensed contractor could complete the work.