Mayor addresses controversial environmental audit overlay affecting hundreds of northeast Wonthaggi home and landowners

A council in Victoria’s southeast has addressed a controversial overlay that’s been applied to thousands of properties in a popular and growing coastal town.

The Bass Coast Shire Council has addressed a troubled overlay that’s been applied to thousands of properties in a popular and growing coastal town.

As part of the Wonthaggi Northeast Precinct Structure Plan, the environmental audit overlay (EAO) was applied by the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) on January 18 this year, after 444ha of new subdivided residential land was gazetted.

But a number of homes have already been built with residents living in them, as well as titled blocks that were sold.

The EAO identifies potentially contaminated land due to either farming, grazing and other factors — and an EAO risk assessment test can cost homeowners and landowners tens of thousands of dollars to get done.

Residents speaking to the Herald Sun revealed they were informed about the EAO on their properties through their developers, social media and a “letter drop”.

It’s understood that a background report from 2016 contained information that a contamination possibility audit was required to be completed by all independent developers.

At the council meeting on Wednesday, mayor Clare Le Serve read out a statement regarding the overlay and the ongoing impact it had on the community.

The environmental audit overlay (EAO) was applied to properties in the estates of The estates affected include Parklands, Powlett Ridge, Summerfields and Northern Views in the northeast Wonthaggi precinct by the Victorian Planning Authority (VPA). Picture: Jack Colantuono

“The last few weeks have been very challenging for some of our community who are building or planning to build in the Wonthaggi northeast precinct structure plan area,” Ms Le Serve said.

“Please be assured that through the CEO Greg Box and our senior planning officers — council are constantly in touch with the state government, the VPA, the EPA to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.

“It is imperative that a solution is found and it is a priority that residents are kept informed directly at this stage.”

Ms Le Serve said it could take some time for the authorities to work through the processes as it is a “very complex” issue.

“I have sent a letter to the Minister for Planning stressing the urgency of this matter,” she said.

“Please encourage all residents that are or thinking they may be affected by this overlay to contact council.

“A duty planner is available to speak to you about your concerns.”

Ms Le Serve thanked everyone for their patience during the stressful and difficult time for many.

The EAO has affected hundreds of residents and landowners and thousands of properties in northeast Wonthaggi. Picture: Jack Colantuono

During public question time, the topic of the overlay was discussed for five minutes.

“Is the council’s plan to have the EAO removed from the already titled properties leaving the landowners wondering if their land is contaminated or to get the testing done?,” a member from the public submitted.

“Does the EAO only impact building permits being issued or does it also impact certificates of occupancies?”.

Chief executive Greg Box said through the mayor, the overlay would impact both.

“Council continues to work with the VPA and the EPA to ensure that the level of risk is assessed appropriately,” Mr Box said.

“The overlay will not be removed without appropriate assessments being completed.”

The layout of the Wonthaggi Northeast Precinct Structure Plan. Picture: Victorian Planning Authority

Another question submitted related to the GHD’s April 2016 report to the council that identified many properties in the area had been potentially contaminated.

“Why did council not take action to conduct further studies or implement planning controls over the affected properties as it was contained within the recommendation section of the GHD report?,” the question asked.

Mr Box said on behalf of Ms Le Serve that areas were identified as having high potential of contamination were further investigated in 2019.

“Legislation at the time did not require this further work to be carried out on low and medium risk areas,” Mr Box said.

Mr Box continued to answer other submitted questions, and said the VPA were responsible for all communications during the amendment process.

“Council is unable to comment on specifically who was notified during this process,” he said.

Another question asked if council will be seeking new evaluations for affected properties and their impacted value due to the overlay.

Mr Box said the council would be using the 2024 re-evaluation figures to determine the weights applicable to a property for the 2024/2025 financial year.

“The 2024 re-evaluation of property uses the date of January 1 2024 as the base date for the evaluation of all properties,” he said.

Mr Box added rate payers have an option to object to their evaluation for a period of 60 days after the issue of the rate notices.

Ms Le Serve encouraged the community to sign up to receive updates from council by visiting the planning applications page.

She said regular communications will be sent by the council as soon as it comes available.

A petition, created on behalf of Member for Eastern Victoria Region Renee Heath, requests that the Legislative Council urgently call on the government to immediately rescind the decision to retrospectively blight the properties of hundreds of owners in the Wonthaggi Northeast Precinct Structure Plan with the newly introduced EAO.

The petition has received almost 1000 signatures and will close on June 17.