The land at 13 Green Street in Healesville will remain public open space forever, with signing an agreement with VicTrack to purchase the land.
Council engaged with community members in 2017 and earlier this year, gauging interest in the potential purchase of the land, with resounding support for the proposal.
Ryrie Ward Councillor, Fiona McAllister, said the purchase will bring relief to the community, six years after VicTrack began the process of selling the space.
“The land at 13 Green Street has been a significant part of the town, going back more than 30 years,” Cr McAllister said.
“Anyone who has been to the market, or wandered down to Coronation Park will have seen people using the land for stalls, picnics or a quiet moment with family and friends
“We had near-unanimous community support to purchase the land in 2017 at the indicated price of $600,000 – but unfortunately when the land was formally valued, it came in much higher than this, making the purchase impossible.
“Thankfully, VicTrack contacted us earlier this year with a revised price of $675,000 – a 50 per cent discount on the current value of $1.35m.
“We asked community members in March whether they still supported the purchase of the land, using money already set aside for public open space in Ryrie Ward, and people were extremely supportive.
“At community engagement pop-ups in Healesville, every passer-by voiced their support for Council purchasing the land, and people had plenty of ideas about how they’d like to use the space as a community.
“I’m so proud to say that, at last, we’ve signed a letter of offer and acceptance, with the transaction and contracts now awaiting the Assistant Treasurer’s approval.”
A condition of the sale to Council is that the land be kept, in perpetuity, as public open space.
Once the sale of the land has been finalised, Council will re-zone the land to meet this condition, and ensure the park is kept for community use.
