Eurobodalla Council have been sitting on a parcel of land in Dalmeny for over thirty years waiting for the right time to sell. They have long had it zoned as part of the Dalmeny Urban Release Area and recognised it as a nest egg ripe for sale when the market would return the best price. It appears that they consider now is the time.
The Council-owned land, commonly referred to as 16 Tatiara Street, Dalmeny is classified as Operational land meaning it can be sold without any public consultation under delegation.
In selling the land Council suggest that "the real estate market within the Eurobodalla is experiencing strong growth, along with other areas of NSW and Australia. This has placed pressure on the supply of residential land, impacting on affordability. The demand for residential land and housing is expected to continue, fueled further by major infrastructure proposals including the Moruya Bypass and Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. As the owner of the land, Council has the opportunity to make the land available to the development sector to assist in meeting demand."
With allowable block sizes in the Shire of 450m2 the land sale could contribute to 800 new homes in Dalmeny.
A local real estate agent told The Beagle "With such an immediate increase in supply to the market the net effect will result in driving down existing premise prices. With planning regulations allowing smaller lot sizes we will also expect newly built houses to be more affordable. Council's intent to deliver affordable housing might be met. Hopefully not at the cost of devaluing the vibrant Dalmeny market where we are seeing record sales".
The Council justification for the sale at the present time to increase housing supply include:
• The median housing rental for properties in Eurobodalla is 29% higher than the rest of NSW.
• Supply shortages are evidenced by extremely strong growth in residential property prices and feedback from real estate agents, who state that housing stock has not been in this short supply in decades
• The Bushfire Recovery Service indicates that bushfire impacted families are reporting a shortage of housing for rent or purchase in Eurobodalla.
Council staff will be requesting councillors, at their meeting next Tuesday (June 22nd, 2021) that the General Manager be given delegated authority to negotiate the sale in accordance with Council’s Land Acquisition and Disposal Policy.
The land is to be marketed by a commercial real estate agent. A valuation report from a registered valuer has been obtained and this will be used to guide sale price negotiations in accordance with Council’s Land Acquisition and Disposal Policy.
Council says "There is no legal requirement to advise the community through public notice or to seek feedback through public exhibition of land dealings concerning operational land. The community has been consulted via past landuse planning and Local Environment Plan processes that have resulted in the land’s current zoning."
Once again the community will be hard pushed to discover how much Council will sell the land for, as was the case when they sold the Moruya racecourse for a pittance at $1.2 million and refused to reveal the final figure at a Council meeting that voted on the sale citing "commercial in Confidence".
The Council report and recommendation say that the Dalmeny land has been zoned for residential development for over 30 years. "The land is zoned for residential development and the sale of the Operational land would enable the land to be developed consistent with the adopted strategic and land use zone for the land. This will facilitate an increase in housing supply at a time when there is a critical shortage (rental and owner occupied)."
For clarification Lot 2 DP 1151341 is classified as part Operational and part Community. The proposal is to sell the Operational portion of the lot.
The preferred main road access to this land once development commences is to provide an access road approximately opposite Binnalong Street so that excessive construction or on-going traffic is not diverted into existing local roads. Once the masterplan is prepared by any proponent, there may need to be a further report to Council to obtain a road reserve access to facilitate that outcome.
