A new housing estate just 10 metres from factories at Australian Textile Mills is being considered by Wangaratta Council administrators, despite warnings from the Environment Protection Authority.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
ATM has been working on a proposal for the past 18 months to rezone four hectares of its 15-hectare site to create a 58-lot residential subdivision.
Council officers prepared a report for Friday’s special council meeting that recommended putting an end to this proposal because the company had not come up with a solution to the odour issue identified by the EPA.
But administrators chose to put the proposal out for public comment before making a decision.
The housing estate idea was first in front of the council in December 2013, seven months before about 60 jobs were lost in the Bruck Textiles sale to ATM.
The EPA’s response in December 2014 warned “future occupants of residential-zoned land within the proposed amendment zone will be adversely affected” by odour from the textile factory.
The housing estate would be within 10 metres of ATM, going against EPA guidelines that call for a 250 to 500-metre buffer.
Development services director Barry Green said an assessment by council officers found a lack of justification to go ahead.
“It is recommended that council determines not to proceed with this amendment any further on the grounds of the environmental risk,” he said.
“State Government policy highlights the importance of protecting existing industrial land from encroachment by sensitive uses.”
The council report stated the new houses would limit the growth potential of Wangaratta, which needs land to attract new businesses to rent without restrictions.
“The loss of industrial land would result in a loss of jobs and compromise future industrial expansion,” the report states.
It was estimated any more work on odour control from ATM could take up to two years without guarantee of success.
Administrator Rod Roscholler said it is rare he would disagree with council officers, but he wanted to make the right judgement call.
The sale of Bruck Textiles was one of first issues the administrators had to deal with when they were appointed in 2013.
Mr Roscholler said the housing plan could secure the operations of the Australian Textile Mills factory and job, while providing more residential land close to the city centre.
“We had a tour of the site and we heard what the vision was for the site and we were quite impressed,” he said.
“We felt it was a positive move.”
The proposed amendment to rezone the area to residential land will be on public display at the council building before administrators made a final decision.
“This is a big issues and one we’re really interested in hearing the public views on,” Mr Roscholler said.
“It would be a pity if we went to all this trouble and nothing was heard.”
