Costco Auburn

Costco Auburn Additional Analysis of Net Community Benefits Prepared for Costco Wholesale Australia Pty Ltd by Essential Economics Pty Ltd with JBA Urban Planning Consultants Pty Ltd Halcrow MWT February 2010 Authorship Report stage Author Date Review Date Matt Lee Draft report v1 22/01/2010 Matt Lee 25/01/2010 Nick Brisbane Draft report v2 Matt Lee 27/01/2010 John Henshall 28/01/2010 Final report Matt Lee 09/02/2010 Disclaimer Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the material and the integrity of the analysis presented herein, Essential Economics Pty Ltd accepts no liability for any actions taken on the basis of the contents of this report. Contact details For further details please contact: Essential Economics Pty Ltd 96 Pelham Street Carlton Victoria 3053 Australia PH 61 3 9347 5255 FAX 61 3 9347 5355 EMAIL [email protected] WEB www.essentialeconomics.com ABN 38 894 627 397 Project number: 09173 Contents Introduction .........................................................................................................................................1 1 Approach to Assessing Costs and Benefits......................................................................................2 1.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Sequential Site Assessment................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Assessment of Local and Regional Economy Effects ............................................................................................. 3 1.4 Assessment of Net State Welfare Effects .............................................................................................................. 4 2 Context..........................................................................................................................................5 2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Overview of Proposed Costco Development......................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Economics Impact Assessment, September 2009 ................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Costco Wholesale – A New Form of Retailing ....................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................................................. 10 3 Sequential Site Selection Analysis ................................................................................................11 3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Costco Site Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 11 3.3 Potential Alternative Locations ........................................................................................................................... 13 3.4 Assessment of Centre Locations.......................................................................................................................... 13 3.5 Assessment of Out-of-Centre Locations.............................................................................................................. 17 3.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................... 20 4 Assessment of Benefits and Costs ................................................................................................21 4.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Alternative Development Scenarios.................................................................................................................... 21 4.3 On-going Employment Generation...................................................................................................................... 22 4.4 Construction Investment and Employment......................................................................................................... 25 4.5 Benefits associated with Improved Consumer Choice and Competition ............................................................ 27 4.6 Benefits Associated with Visitation to the Site.................................................................................................... 30 4.7 Property Value Implications ................................................................................................................................ 32 4.8 Travel Costs ......................................................................................................................................................... 33 4.9 Vehicle Emissions ................................................................................................................................................ 34 4.10 Loss of Industrial Land......................................................................................................................................... 35 5 Summary of Net Economic Effects................................................................................................37 5.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................... 37 5.2 Economic Outcomes............................................................................................................................................ 37 5.3 Net State Welfare Effects .................................................................................................................................... 38 5.4 Summary of Cost Benefit Analysis....................................................................................................................... 39 Appendix: Traffic Analysis Techncal Note............................................................................................40 COSTCO AUBURN ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS OF NET COMMUNITY BENEFIT INTRODUCTION This report has been prepared on behalf of Costco Wholesale Australia Pty Ltd, and responds to matters raised by the Department of Planning in their letter dated 27 November 2009. The Department of Planning has considered the Environmental Assessment prepared on behalf of Costco and the submissions received during the public exhibition of the project from 21 October 2009 to 20 November 2009, and has requested additional information in order to finalise the assessment. The additional information requested from the Project Proponent includes – in relation to the strategic context for the development – the following item: “The Preferred Project Report (PPR) is to provide a cost benefit analysis of the proposal in terms of the type of jobs generated, the local or regional economy effects and any infrastructure and likely travel cost implications”. In responding to the Department’s request, the following additional analysis is presented in this report: 1 Discussion of the approach adopted in preparing an analysis of costs and benefits of the Costco proposal, in the context of the requirements identified in the Draft Centres Policy. 2 Review of the context for the assessment, including a summary of the proposal and the Costco business model, and the implications for the assessment of costs and benefits. 3 Presentation of a sequential site selection analysis that assesses the opportunity to accommodate the Costco development at alternative in-centre and edge-of-centre sites in the region. 4 Assessment of the benefits and costs associated with the proposed Costco development, including consideration of the local and regional economy effects and net state effects such as transport costs. 5 Summary of net community benefit analysis, drawing together the assessments undertaken in this report, and highlighting the cost benefit outcomes. The analysis presented in this report builds on work already completed and presented in the Environment Assessment Report Concept Plan and Project Application (JBA Urban Planning) and its attachments. Of particular relevance is the assessment of retail trading impacts and local and regional economic effects presented in the Costco Auburn Economic Impact Assessment (Essential Economics, September 2009) which accompanied the Environment Assessment. The additional work in this report adopts the estimates and analysis already presented in the Economic Impact Assessment, and relating to matters such as the likely geographic trade area served by the Costco store, likely trading patterns, forecast turnover, employment generation generated at Costco, and construction costs associated with the Costco project. Input to the report has been prepared by Essential Economics in association with JBA Urban Planning and Halcrow MWT. JBA have assisted in undertaking planning assessments of alternative sites as input to the sequential site selection assessment,

Load more