By Clay Lucas and Sophie Aubrey
The developer behind an Avondale Heights retirement village that flooded in last year’s Maribyrnong River deluge has applied to further expand the number of homes by the river, prompting calls for the plan to be blocked by the Victorian government.
The flood at the Rivervue retirement village is at the centre of a political storm engulfing the Andrews government and Melbourne Water – which made possible construction on the land, formerly designated as flood-prone.
Rivervue resident Joanne Heaver, who remains locked out of her retirement village home, wants the new development plans to be squashed.Credit: Darrian Traynor
Rivervue residents, who never expected to be inundated and fear a future disaster, are demanding compensation for their devalued homes. They and the state opposition are also calling for the state to step in to prevent further development while Melbourne Water and parliamentary flood inquiries run their course.
This week The Age revealed Melbourne Water ignored advice to declare a potential perceived conflict of interest surrounding its inquiry into October’s flood. Emails also show a state minister’s office and the water department vetted a Melbourne Water statement to The Age, casting doubt on the inquiry’s independence.
After last October’s floods, Premier Daniel Andrews announced Melbourne Water would stage a public inquiry led by planning expert Nick Wimbush. He resigned after The Age revealed Wimbush in 2015 gave the OK to planning rule changes at Rivervue, requested by Melbourne Water, removing a flood overlay on the property that allowed construction of the very units that flooded last year.
Today, residents from 31 of the 47 homes that flooded remain barred from returning, with repairs still under way to fix $7 million of damage. Despite this, Rivervue is pushing on with a new stage of the retirement village, submitting an application to Moonee Valley Council just four days before last year’s flood.
The proposed two-storey, 14-villa complex on the Maribyrnong River banks is on an area that has never been considered flood-prone but is close to land where flood boundaries were shifted but later flooded.
The council referred the application to Melbourne Water, which has failed to respond to the plan. An internal Moonee Valley email states that, once comments from external authorities have been received, the application will go before the council meeting due to its “sensitive nature”.
Residents and Moonee Valley Council have called for the retirement village’s flood risk zoning to be reviewed but, seven months on from the flood, Melbourne Water has also yet to finish its investigation into Rivervue.
Asked whether the developer’s proposal should be withdrawn or suspended, Moonee Valley mayor Pierce Tyson said the council was required to consider every planning permit application it received.
He said residents at Avondale Heights “should have received a warning if the flood forecasting was accurate and Melbourne’s warning system delivered as designed”.
Among residents still out of Rivervue is Joanne Heaver, 67, who had lived there for three years when the floods hit. Heaver may be able to return next month to the villa she shares with her 36-year-old daughter, who has a psychological disorder.
Heaver went into Rivervue “to provide security and safety for my daughter”, but since the flood has lived on the Bellarine Peninsula in a house she is paying for herself. “The costs that have been forced back onto us are enormous,” she said.
According to the overlay on the Rivervue property she bought, it was not prone to flooding – even though it had been until the planning changes approved by the Andrews government in 2016.
“That this home was in a floodplain was information that I simply didn’t have and that we should have been entitled to.”
Heaver has objected to the latest stage of the development, arguing “the land is flood-prone”.
Stan Korkliniewski, who remains in Mornington while his Rivervue home is fixed, also submitted an objection to the developer’s latest plans because he is worried about flood risk.
He demanded the developer withdraw its application, or the state government suspend it. “Until the parliamentary inquiry completes its findings, only then do I think it’s appropriate for the developer to put in an application,” he said.
Rivervue resident Stan Korkliniewski, pictured with wife Cheryl, is calling for compensation.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Korkliniewski is concerned the value of his villa, which he paid just over $600,000 for in 2018, has plummeted. He called for compensation given Melbourne Water’s flood zoning changes seven years ago, or to be moved to a higher villa. “Our wealth has been diminished significantly and because of our age there’s no way we can recoup that kind of money,” he said.
Opposition planning spokesman David Hodgett said the retirement village flood needed to be understood before more development took place.
“Why do further development there that could become subject to future floods? And who in their right mind is going to buy these new villas? It’s very premature to be looking at another stage of development.”
A spokesman for Tigcorp, the company that owns Rivervue, said its application was part of long-standing plans for the property and would be subject to the usual statutory processes.
He said the business was awaiting the outcomes of the Melbourne Water and parliamentary flood inquiries to determine how to proceed with any future flood prevention.
“We expect recommendations to be made, including in relation to mitigation and management of future flood events as well as insights into the cause and contributors to the flood event.”
A spokeswoman for Water Minister Harriet Shing would not comment on the developer’s new application or on compensation for residents. “Melbourne Water is currently undertaking its Maribyrnong River flood review and we will consider the findings once that work is completed.”
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Shing again insisted Melbourne Water’s review was independent of the state government despite emails obtained by The Age showing ministerial staff edited and approved a Melbourne Water statement about Wimbush’s resignation.
“Neither I nor my office have had any involvement in reaching into the work that Melbourne Water is doing as part of its review,” Shing said.
Asked whether she stood by Melbourne Water boss Nerina Di Lorenzo following the authority’s appointment of Wimbush, Shing said “that’s a question for Melbourne Water”.
A parliamentary inquiry was established after extensive reporting by The Age about Melbourne Water’s inquiry, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers teaming up to launch a wider-ranging flood review.
A Melbourne Water spokesman did not say whether the authority would green-light the new Rivervue planning application. He said the investigation into the village’s development was continuing, and a technical assessment of the village site was also being undertaken to inform future planning outcomes. “Any decisions on future Rivervue approvals will be informed by these assessments, which will include climate change projections.”
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