Residents being evicted from a storied industrial estate in Melbourne’s inner west are pleading for mercy after their council suddenly enforced zoning rules that changed more than 30 years ago.
Young families and elderly people are among the residents who have launched a petition and will attend a meeting on Tuesday night to argue for Hobsons Bay City Council to amend the industrial zoning of the area to allow them to stay.
Techno Park Drive residents and their supporters in the courtyard of one of the housing blocks.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Techno Park Drive in Williamstown had housed refugees and migrants since World War II, before it was sold into the private market in the late 1980s and rezoned as an industrial area, meaning people could no longer legally live there. The council considers it unsafe as a residential area.
Despite this, the units have been continuously bought and sold since 1988 as homes and landlords have offered them as rentals.
Dozens of online listings for the area show the units were sometimes advertised as residential homes, home offices and pure commercial office space.
Retired resident Arnie, 71, who did not want his surname published out of fear of repercussions, has rented a one-bedroom unit in the estate for 14 years.
The former computer programmer lost his job in 2009 and was couch-surfing without a home when he found a $100-a-week rental in one of the blocks.
“I was told, ‘We’re not really supposed to [live here]’, but I thought, ‘So what? I can put up with [being around industry]’,” he said. “I’m not making trouble for anyone else around.”
On May 18, all the units received notices stating that residents needed to leave, and warning that any full-time residential use was in breach of the Hobsons Bay planning scheme and had to cease immediately.
The council told residents in the letters: “WorkSafe advised council that some properties at Techno Park Estate are being used for some type of residential purposes.”
Renter Arnie in the Techno Park Drive unit where he has lived for 14 years.Credit: Wayne Taylor
A Hobsons Bay spokesman told The Age on Monday the council acted after complaints from WorkSafe, fuel company Mobil and the EPA over the past 12 months.
Worksafe and the EPA did not confirm these alleged complaints when contacted by The Age, and Mobil did not respond.
Some residents have questioned the sudden crackdown, and say the council knew people were living in the estate for years and had not intervened until now.
“There are residential units here. They have been advertised with pictures of bedrooms and showers. Council has accepted payment for registration of pets at these addresses,” said resident Lara Week, who bought a unit advertised as a home office three years ago.
‘Many have made homes at Techno Park because there haven’t been other options for affordable housing.’
Lara Week, Techno Park Drive resident
“Many have made homes at Techno Park because there haven’t been other options for affordable housing.”
The council admits it knew about “sporadic” residential use at Techno Park dating back years, but its spokesman said that it was only after complaints from other authorities that the council realised the scale of the community living there. The spokesman said the council knew of 91 units being used for residential purposes.
Key to the council’s argument to vacate is how close the housing blocks are to the neighbouring fuel storage facility with eight massive tanks, which is deemed a “Major Hazard Facility”.
“This is a really difficult situation and council never wants to ask people not to live in a property they call home, but Techno Park Drive is an industrial area and surrounded by a major hazard facility,” Hobsons Bay Mayor Antoinette Briffa said.
“The huge Mobil fuel storage tanks are literally a stone’s throw away.”
The storage tank site is part of the wider footprint of ExxonMobil’s former fuel refinery, which was opened in the late 1940s – before the current hostel buildings were constructed. A community sports facility is on the storage site’s eastern boundary.
ExxonMobil ceased refinery operations in 2021, and for many years the fuel tanks neighbouring Techno Park Drive have sat empty. A spokesman for Mobil confirmed the company was still contemplating the site’s future use.
Week, one of the residents who is part of a group of more than 30 people fighting eviction, said the group was “traumatised”.
ExxonMobil’s fuel tank facility, which neighbours Techno Park Drive, viewed from a sporting field.Credit: Eddie Jim
“The impact of this letter on the people on our community has been severe. Every day I hear from someone who is sleepless, someone who is missing work because they can’t stop crying, someone who is full of fear for their future,” she said.
The group hopes for a similar outcome to when Yarra Council in 2015 rezoned an industrial area to mixed use, which allowed people who had moved there to stay.
Briffa said Hobsons Bay had encouraged residents to speak with the council if they needed more time to relocate, and that it was assisting with housing referral services.
“We’ve also spoken with the local MP, who is understanding of their situation and advocating with the Department of Housing for us.”
But the mayor said the council was “not seeking any state government intervention on the current land use restrictions”.
Liberal-aligned Hobsons Bay councillor Daria Kellander criticised the council’s decision.
“It’s my opinion that delivering eviction notices to vulnerable people before looking at or offering solutions is outrageous,” she said.
“We have a cost-of-living and housing crisis, you can’t just make people homeless.”
Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny and Local Government Minister Melissa Horne – also the MP for Williamstown – declined to comment.
The Real Estate Institute of Victoria confirmed it last week received a complaint letter from the council over real estate agent conduct relating to Techno Park Drive. A spokeswoman said the institute was “looking into this situation”.
Get the day’s breaking news, entertainment ideas and a long read to enjoy. Sign up to receive our Evening Edition newsletter here.