South Australia Police has chosen an area of the Adelaide Park Lands as its preferred site to relocate its Mounted Operations Unit.
SA Police's preferred site is at Mirnu Wirra/Park 21 West, the state government has confirmed.
The unit has to move because the new Women's and Children Hospital will be built on its existing site at the Thebarton Police Barracks.
A government spokesperson said planning and scoping works to determine the cost and scale of the project were already underway.
"Under legislation, any such site within the Park Lands may only be used for the purposes of the Mounted Operations Unit," the government spokesperson said.
"If a decision is made to proceed with this site, the state government will work with the Adelaide City Council to identify unusable areas of Park Lands, such as decrepit unused netball courts at Edwards Park, and undertake works to return them to park lands."
The state government had allocated $2 million for the police to plan for the relocation of its barracks.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the organisation was in the process of identifying new locations for the 15 different police units working within the Thebarton Barracks.
"The most complex business unit there in terms of relocation is the Mounted Operations Unit, given the facilities required for the care and maintenance of the horses and stabling," he said.
Commissioner Stevens said SA Police recommended Mirnu Wirra out of a list of 15 potential sites for the unit — including park lands, brownfields and commercial sites — because it was the most appropriate "from an operational capability and animal welfare point of view".
He said the Adelaide Showground site at Wayville was considered, but it was not suitable.
"We would occupy so much of their site we would negatively impact on all of the other activities that happen at the showgrounds," he said.
He said while it was too early to provide a time frame for the relocation, it was hoped to be by the end of the year.
"Our plan is to be out of Thebarton Barracks as quickly as possible so that we don't delay the construction of the new Women's and Children's Hospital," he said.
Police Minister Joe Szakacs said most of the "much beloved" mounted unit's work is undertaken in the city, including at Adelaide Oval and Hindley Street.
"The Adelaide city is the hub of the operations of our Mounted Operations and that is why this small parcel in the south park lands does tick many of those boxes to facilitate that ongoing support and commitment to the Adelaide City Council that we've made," he said.
Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith opposes the location, saying using the site would "lock away much-needed open space for the needs of growing populations in the city's south-west and from Wayville and Unley".
"We support SAPOL and love horses, but stabling, offices, equipment stores and high fences are not a suitable use for irreplaceable, diminishing nationally heritage-listed park lands," she said.
Dr Lomax-Smth urged Premier Peter Malinauskas to reject the proposal.
"Our city parks must not be regarded as free land for any project that crops up," she said.
Mr Szakacs said the government was "absolutely dedicated" to working closely with the council on the issue.
"To ensure that there is a mutually beneficial outcome here for the state, for the City of Adelaide, in the way we move forward for a generation to come," he said.
