DESPITE the collapse of the Civic Place plan, development in Parramatta will continue, with the planning of several large projects continuing to progress.
Cr Julia Finn said the council was continuing to support and promote development in Parramatta and the termination of the urban renewal project deal with Grocon would not stall the overall development of the area.
"We need a return of business confidence to the area, but I think this should happen within a year or two and there is plenty of development happening already," Cr Finn said.
Councillors recently voted to accept a tender for the Barry Wilde Bridge fountain by Harris Movement Engineering during a closed session portion of a council meeting.
A report to the council said the company would spend $261,848 on the construction of the curtain fountain and the project would also cost an additional $180,032.
A council spokesman said work on the bridge would start shortly, and was expected to be completed this year.
Parramatta lord mayor Lorraine Wearne said the bridge fountain would be the first in Australia and the project would continue the council's river foreshore activation program.
"The river is one of our best assets and this initiative is a great way to draw people to the area," Cr Wearne said.
She said the council was also going forward with the development of a commercial, residential and car park building at 189 Macquarie Street and the Lennox Bridge car park development.
The Macquarie Street project, which will include 700 parking spots, retail and commercial premises and will replace a current open air car park with only 175 spaces, is still out to tender.
Tenders will close on May 8 and a decision on who will build the development will follow.
During a recent closed session meeting, the council voted to reject all of the tenders submitted for the Lennox Bridge car park development and negotiate with one or a few of the firms that tendered.
A spokesman said council staff could not comment in detail about why the tenders were rejected, but said officers hoped to have an agreement in place by July.
The council minutes from the meeting state that the council would not invite fresh tenders due to the extensive time delay and cost of the process and due to a high degree of doubt from the officers that a fresh tender process would "result in a receipt of [a] more meritorious proposal". Councillors said more information was required.