A PARCEL of land in Elizabeth Mitchell Drive previously identified for a cemetery by the Albury- Wodonga Corporation is in the sights of Albury Council.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An era dating back to the early 1970s ended yesterday when the corporation closed its doors ahead of an official wind-up on December 31.
Last minute negotiations of land sales continued up until remaining staff clocked off for the last time.
The corporation ends with about 900 hectares of land left from the 24,000 it had when the Whitlam government splashed $139 million on buying mostly rural land to realise a grand vision to create a city of 300,000 people by 2000.
One of the remaining parcels of land is the Elizabeth Mitchell Drive property at the eastern end of the Albury airport.
The council has no intention of creating another cemetery if the land sale can be negotiated given it has enough land at the Glenmorus Gardens cemetery.
Remaining sales will be handled by the federal finance department and Albury mayor Kevin Mack and general manager Frank Zaknich have recently made representations to department officials in Canberra.
“The discussions centred on land the council was interested in and potentially of use to us,” Mr Zaknich said.
The council this week authorised Mr Zaknich to begin negotiations about buying the land in Elizabeth Mitchell Drive.
The corporation and council have also been jointly developing an industrial area on the northern side of the airport.
The finance department has announced it is seeking to appoint a real estate agent to assist in the sale of remaining land in Albury-Wodonga.
Corporation chief executive Peter Veneris has headed up a team of five in its final days.
The longest serving employee is Graeme Hiskins, who joined the corporation soon after its inception.
Mr Veneris joined the corporation in 2006 from Greater Hume Shire.
“We are completing sales this week,” he said.
“These were contracts at foot and will be finalised before the wind-up.
“None are in the are significant multi million-dollar transactions.
“They are routine sales, but we are continuing to finalise as many as we can.”
The corporation developed more than 6000 residential lots in Albury-Wodonga since its inception.
