By Jennifer Pittorino
Star Weekly is looking back at the best stories of last year and this is one of them.
Hobsons Bay councillors have called for state government intervention to help residents of an industrial estate who face eviction from their homes following the sudden enforcement of a 30-year-old zoning decision.
Council received a petition from the distraught residents during a highly emotional council meeting on Tuesday night.
More than 100 people live in Techno Park Drive, Williamstown, which sits adjacent to a Mobil fuel storage site on Kororoit Creek Road.
The residents received letters from council in May telling them to cease living at Techno Park immediately.
The residents protested outside the council chamber on Tuesday night to support their petition, which has been signed by more than 600 people.
The petition reads, “council’s decision to threaten people with eviction and legal action now, in a time of housing crisis, is heartless, bureaucratic, arbitrary, and wrong”.
Cr Daria Kellander showed her support for the community as she struggled to hold back her tears, moving a motion to accept the residents’ petition.
“As a lifetime resident of Hobsons Bay, I have always known that people live at Techno Park Drive, it’s been no secret,” she said.
“These residents are already doing it tough, residents at Techno Park Drive include children, elderly residents, migrants, LGBT+ and first nations people.
“I feel powerless in changing an outcome for these residents, I’m not going to accept this as being OK because it’s not OK.”
Directing her speech to the gallery, which included Techno Park residents who were also in tears, Cr Kellander added: “We’re in the midst of a housing crisis and a cost of living crisis.
“There are many locations across Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong where homes are literally across the road from petrol tanks, you can throw a stone from your front door and hit one in these locations, and the homes at Techno Park are no different.
“I have family and friends who lived in these homes when they emigrated to Australia as refugees, they were built as homes.
“Housing is recognised as a human right in the universal declaration of human rights, I’ll let that sink in.”
Techno Park Drive has housed migrants since it was built in the late 1960s, but the land was rezoned as an industrial area in the late 1980s, meaning no one could legally live there.
The land was rezoned because of its proximity to the Mobil refinery.
However, people have been living in the apartments in the three decades since.
A council spokesperson told Star Weekly council was aware that people have been living illegally at Techno Park Drive.
“Although Mobil is no longer refining fuel at its Altona site, it remains a state-significant fuel terminal and a major hazard facility that stores fuel,” the spokesperson said.
“The risk to people living in the immediate area if there is an incident is too great, rezoning this land [to residential] would not be appropriate given the significant safety risks.
“It would be unconscionable for council not to act and ensure people are not living in the area, we understand this will cause hardship for some residents and we have encouraged them to speak with us if they need more time to relocate. We will do what we can to assist them with relocating.”.
Hobsons Bay sustainable communities director Penelope Winslade told Tuesday’s meeting it was ‘not practical’ to rezone the land.
“It’s technically possible to rezone the land, but in a practical sense, it’s extremely unlikely that the state government would agree to a rezoning of this land because of its proximity to what’s known as a state-significant petrochemical site,” she said.
When asked if they would consider rezoning the land, a government spokesperson said, “This is a matter for Hobsons Bay Council.”
According to the government any renters or homeowners can contact Consumer Affairs Victoria for information about their rights regarding a ‘notice to vacate’ that has been served or about the sale process they experienced.
Cr Peter Hemphill asked exactly how close Techno Park homes are to the fuel tanks, in which Ms Winslade responded that they are immediately adjacent.
Ms Winslade also acknowledged there are other nearby housing properties within the same perimeters of Techno Park, that are allowed to remain because they are listed as residential.
“Essentially, it’s a different legal position when you have land that was zoned residential alongside a major hazard facility, than when you have the current situation, Techno Park, which was never zoned residential, so it’s a different scenario,” she said.
Cr Matt Tyler sobbed as he spoke about his own father’s experience with homelessness.
“We must continue to ask every question we can with regards to zoning,” he said.
“We’ll do our very best on this, and I’m really sorry.”
