By Kath Gannaway
The future of VicTrack-owned land at 13 Green Street in Healesville is up for discussion once again, after the Valuer-General slapped a whopping $1.185 million price tag on the block.
VicTrack plans to sell the land, which is adjacent to the River Street carpark, and offered Yarra Ranges Council and other agencies the opportunity to express interest in purchasing.
The Healesville community overwhelmingly opted to keep the land when surveyed earlier in the year, with almost 90 per cent of the 184 submissions in favour of purchasing.
However, that was based on VicTrack’s initial estimate of the land value at $400,000.
Yarra Ranges Council received the million-plus estimate from the Valuer-General late last month and say the higher than expected valuation is based on the highest and best potential use of the land, which would be commercial development.
The council is now putting the ‘love it or list it’ question back on the table, inviting Healesville residents to make further comment about the potential purchase of the land, colloquially known as ‘Healesville Green’.
Ryrie Ward Councillor, Fiona McAllister, encouraged Healesville residents to have their say and share their comments about the proposal.
“When this land came up for sale, we wanted to know right away what the community thought about council potentially purchasing it,” Cr McAllister said.
“We had an overwhelming majority of survey responses in favour of purchasing the land, but we want to know the community’s thoughts now the final price has been decided.”
Cr McAllister said they had been told the new valuation represented the value of the land in terms of its potential, if it were to be re-zoned and developed for commercial use.
“If council elected to purchase the land, it could be re-zoned to a public park and recreation zone for retention as open, green space,” she said.
“If it is to be sold by VicTrack through the open market, it could be developed for commercial purposes by any new owner.
“Again, this is the critical time for residents to provide their thoughts about whether council should purchase this land for the community.”
The 1716 square metre land parcel is currently leased to council by VicTrack and is used by the Healesville Community Market once a month.
Should council elect to purchase the property, it is likely to be funded in part from the public open space fund which is used to fund improvements to parks and reserves within wards.
The fund currently has $664,000 available for Ryrie Ward, which would direct all available funds to purchasing the land in lieu of undertaking other current open space improvements within Ryrie Ward.
For more information, and to fill out the latest survey, visit yarraranges.vic.gov.au/haveyoursay.
Anyone who would like to comment and does not have online access can call in at the council’s Healesville Community Link and talk to staff about completing the survey there.
The online survey will be open until 5pm on Friday, 17 November.
