A property leased by the Victorian Goldfields Railway (VGR) is being sold by the Victorian Government, raising questions about zoning and community consultation around the sale of a heritage asset that has been a green buffer around Maldon Station since the gold rush era.

The Tarrangower Times reported last week in its Friday 8 November edition that 14 Reef Street, attached to Maldon Station, has been listed for sale by the manager of State Government transport properties, VicTrack.

The TT requested information from Mount Alexander Shire Council (MASC) to ask about the zoning for 14 Reef Street, which was understood to have been changed to make way for the sale. A Council spokesperson explained that the zoning on the property has not been and has never been proposed to be changed by MASC. “State-led reforms to the residential zones in 2014 introduced General Residential Zones (GRZ),” the spokesperson said. “GRZ was applied to all land that was previously zoned Residential 1 Zone, which became a redundant zone. This meant that there was an automatic transition to GRZ for land zoned Residential 1 Zone. This was done across Victoria by the State Government at that time.”

A document from what was the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure (now the Department of Transport and Planning) in 2014 shows that the role of the new zone was to: ‘Respect and preserve urban character while enabling moderate housing growth and housing diversity.’ Another departmental document states that public comment was sought on the proposed zone reforms until 28 September 2012 and that over 2,000 submissions were received.

The TT contacted VicTrack to ask whether any community consultation had occurred in relation to selling a heritage asset and whether there had there been any interest in the property as at the deadline for Expressions of Interest. These questions were not answered by VicTrack’s spokesperson.

The TT also asked why the land is being sold, how the decision had been made, whether VGR had been consulted about the sale of some of the land that it leases and whether any consideration had been made into the impact of the sale on the future operations of the VGR.

A VicTrack spokesperson said, “We sell land that is no longer required for transport and re-invest the revenue back into public transport assets across Victoria. We have consulted with the railway about the sale of the land to ensure there will be no impacts on their operations.”

By way of background information, VicTrack explained that its annual land sales program sells land no longer needed for transport. The spokesperson said that the land at Maldon is not required for transport and is zoned residential, therefore is not able to be used by the VGR for its operations. They said, “We have liaised with the VGR about the sale of the land, and we amended the boundaries of the parcel to ensure the railway can still access its storage yard.”

It seems as though lessees of VicTrack properties should check the zoning on all the land that they intend to use in the future; it is possible to do this using dedicated web tools. And as VicTrack points out, any future use of the land at 14 Reef Street would be subject to the standard planning approvals process through Mount Alexander Shire Council. It is not clear how community members should keep track of which parcels of land that VicTrack might choose to sell in the future.

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 22 November 2024.