Homeowners fear property values will plummet after council landslide risk ruling
A Mornington Peninsula man has been told by the local council his property is “highly susceptible’ to landslides — despite the land being “completely flat”.
A Mornington Peninsula orchard owner on a “completely flat” piece of land has received a text from the council warning his property is “highly susceptible” to landslides and that he’s at risk of injury or even death.
Thousands of homeowners across the shire have received the same message after Mornington Peninsula introduced new planning controls in the wake of a catastrophic landslide at McCrae.
The text message included a link to information about an interim erosion management overlay and a searchable map with a sea of red indicating areas deemed highly susceptible to landslides.
Residents say the new planning rules are “overkill” and want Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny, who has the final say on the changes, to refuse the council’s interim EMO.
The EMO covers 33,000 properties – 27,000 with homes – and was rushed through by the council little more than six weeks after being told to “urgently implement” controls following the January landslide that injured a council worker and sent a luxury house crashing down the cliffs.
Tyabb man Martin Scanlon described the move as the “height of incompetence”.
He said it risked devaluing properties and increasing insurance costs for close to 40 per cent of the peninsula’s population.
“A potential buyer of property … will freak out if they see an overlay that says land is subject to severe landslide risk and move away from buying the property or at least use it as a negotiating tool.
“And what bank is going to approve a loan to buy a property that has this kind of risk attached?”
Mr Scanlon was also staggered to receive the news via a text.
“Fancy sending information like that in a random text,” he said.
“When you click through the link in the text you’re told your land is now deemed to pose a risk to property and life and if you want to remove even a single tree with a trunk wider than half a metre you need a permit.
“I’m on 15 acres (6ha) … I’ll be endlessly applying for permits.
“I am not sure the council are even resourced to cope with this increase in permits.”
Merrick livestock farmer Louise Aston said the council’s senior strategic planner had acknowledged that most of the “red areas” identified on her property were water courses or dams.
“They were also a lot larger than the actual dams or creek,” Ms Aston said.
“About 15 years ago in partnership with Melbourne Water we planted 25,000 trees along that creek to prevent erosion.
“To have the area identified as a landslide risk is ludicrous.”
Ms Aston said the council planner confirmed the data used to develop the overlay was taken from 2012 maps of the Mornington Peninsula.
“There were no actual surveys done of the properties and apparently no consideration given to any new developments or changes over the past 13 years,” she said.
Another Mornington Peninsula homeowner said the overlay was jeopardising his retirement.
The man recently put his property on the market and said receiving a text warning the property was now deemed “highly susceptible to landslides” was a “nightmare”.
“We’re downsizing and we need to sell to finance our retirement,” he said.
“This overlay will have a devastating effect on the price we get.”
The man, who asked not to be named, said his house was on a standard block and while some of his neighbours had also received the text message, others had not.
“We’re all on the same gradient. It doesn’t make any sense.”
He has asked the council to either remove his interim EMO from his property or confirm the risk status for landslides as low.
A written response from the shire stated the EMO was an interim measure, required by the state government.
“Mapping will be refined over the coming months and some properties may no longer be considered at risk,” the statement says.
“While properties covered by the interim overlay are likely to need a planning permit before carrying out any work, council can vary or waive the requirements if they are not relevant to the proposal.
“In many cases only a small part of a property is covered and development can occur as usual on the rest of the site.”
The council said the community would have the chance to have its say once the new mapping is complete and a permanent EMO proposed.
Text messages were not sent to the owners of properties previously identified as high risk and already covered by an existing overlay.
Where the Shire does not have a contact number, an email or letter will be sent.
