By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams and Greater Dandenong councillor Matthew Kirwan have clashed over the future of ‘surplus’ Melbourne Water land in Dandenong.
Since 2014, the council has resisted an offer to purchase the public-owned land at 38-48 Dalgety Street from Melbourne Water for more than $2 million.
Talks were ongoing, as recently as 21 Feburary.
The stand-off recently spilled over in an exchange between Ms Williams and Cr Kirwan on Facebook.
Cr Kirwan was opposed to ratepayers essentially having to buy back public land as “vital” open space.
““The passionate reaction from residents to me via Facebook, phone calls and emails has indicated that this park, by the banks of the Dandenong Creek, is highly valued by residents and will be increasingly needed in an area of increasing population due to increasing numbers of townhouses.
“With increasing population we need more parks not less.”
He said a compromise was for the Council to be granted a peppercorn lease in return for funding the maintenance of the land. A similar arrangement was in place for Chandler Reserve in Keysborough, he said.
Ms Williams told Star News that after “multiple opportunities” that the council had “rejected outright purchasing the land”.
“Rather than politicking Cr Kirwan needs to actually work with his fellow City of Greater Dandenong councillors to establish a formal position on the transfer of this land.
“The community expects council to work productively with Melbourne Water to get the best outcome for those who use this open space.”
Greater Dandenong city planning director Jody Bosman told a council meeting on 29 January that the council had been offered the land for a “substantial” price – more than $2 million.
The council considered the land for overflow car parking in July 2014, but later reassessed that a car park was no longer required, he said.
“No new circumstances have emerged which makes the purchase of the 3,031 square metres for car parking any more compelling than it was in 2015,” Mr Bosman said.
“As to its retention for open space, there are other areas of the municipality which have a proven shortage of open space which would be hard to prove in this specific area.”
He said if Melbourne Water wanted to sell off the land for private sale, it would need to rezone the land from a public park and recreation zone to General Residential Zone 1.
