On Tuesday night the City of Greater Geelong passed their proposal to levy a special charge on residents to finance the main drain for the development of the retirement village off Central Road in Drysdale/Clifton Springs.
Patrick Hughes from the Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association has written an excellent summary of the issues surrounding Council's approach to financing this drain. His article is entitled: Council compels residents to subsidise a developer.
The Echo today (January 27, 2011, page 11) has provided Council's view on the main drain. It is a very one sided article and omits many of the facts of what Council has in fact done to residents.
Given the article is not online I will quote directly:
"Springs charge to be deferred" - Peter Begg.
"Geelong city council has agreed to defer landowner payments for a $1.5 million main drain in the Central Rod area of Clifton Springs.
Geelong mayor John Mitchell said the council had listened to the views of local residents on a deferred payment option for the scheme.
None of the residents will be required to pay for the scheme until they either sell or subdivide their properties.
Charges range from $3361 up to $256,888, depending on the size of the properties. Parts of the area are being rezoned from rural to residential, and some residents have indicated an interest in subdividing larger blocks.
Cr Mitchell said the proposed main drain would service the general area of Jetty Rod, Ada St, Thomas St and Central Rd in Clifton Springs.
He said a retirement village was planned for the area to the east of Central Rd in Clifton Springs, and the development could not proceed without the provision of the main drain.
Cr Mitchell said the main drain would facilitate development of the surrounding area, which was in the process of being rezoned from Rural Living Zone to Residential 1.
"Council has negotiated an agreement with the developer of the retirement village land, under which the developer will provide and fund the main drain 'up-front'", he said.
"As part of the agreement, council is to initiate a special charge scheme for cost recovery from the surrounding benefiting landowners."
While this sounds like Council has been quite helpful to residents, there are a number of issues which have not been reported.
1. The majority of residents opposed paying for this drain and said the developer of the retirement village should pay for the entire drain.
2. As the majority residents objected to the payment, the Council was not in a position to enforce them to pay. However, Council, has now decided to make this a public health drain - which now makes many residents objections redundant. Making this a public health issue was only made public on Friday (21 January 2011) before council's meeting last Tuesday (25 January 2011). When asked at the Council meeting, prior to this proposal being passed by Council, where the evidence was for making this a public health issue, none was forthcoming - it just is one!
3. Not all properties currently zoned Rural Living Zone are being changed to Residential 1 Zone. There are a number who will remain rural living and these properties are attracting drainage bills of nearly $80,000 each.
4. Deferred payment comes at a price - 5% interest per annum charged quarterly until the bill has been paid. This means an $80,000 bill turns into more than $102,000 bill after 5 years. On a rural living property, any profit that might be made from a sale is eaten up by the special charge and interest to be paid to council.
5. To be able to charge residents for this drain, council has to be able to demonstrate special benefit the ratepayer will receive. Special benefit for those zoned Rural Living is not provided as there is no ability to capitalise on the "value" of their land due to their inability to subdivide.
This is an issue which is not going to go away. If you are a ratepayer in the City of Greater Geelong - beware - any time Council wants to fund infrastructure you will be paying for it directly whether you like it or not and whether you can pay for it or not.
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