Charlotte Varcoe
PROPOSED rezoning in Penola has been supported by real estate agents due to limited available residential and industrial land.
The support comes following Wattle Range Council launching for community consultation a draft 25 year Strategic Land Use Plan for the council area, including Penola.
Rezoning within and around Penola are among the proposals floated for consideration in the draft document developed by Adelaide based planning consultants, Holmes Dyer.
TDC Livestock and Property director Mark DeGaris supports the draft plan’s proposals for Penola’s future.
“Penola has a very limited space to expand, so having a look at land parcels which are available close-by to work out whether we need to rezone or not to accommodate growth in the future is a great idea,” Mr DeGaris said.
“There are not many residential areas left in town and where there are, there are developments on the way already.
“The rezoning of rural land is always contentious and I suppose that is what the report is recommending,” Mr DeGaris said.
“We are limited in where we can expand and the report has picked some obvious spots.”
In regards to industrial expansion, Mr DeGaris said space was quickly becoming sparse with the opportunity to expand past the western side of the bypass a possibility.
“I don’t see why we can’t expand the industrial area outside of the bypass as long as there is access for trucks,” he said.
“There is the problem that it would then go onto private land so whether the landowners want to rent or sell or not … but if we were to rezone and expand we would have to do so towards the east and west because there are all the vineyards to the north.”
Mr DeGaris said despite the potential for rezoning and increased developments across Penola, he believed any expansion would be controlled.
“We are seeing a lot of people moving to Penola from the cities but I don’t think we will be expanding by the hundreds of building lots like they do there,” he said.
“Over the last five or six years we have seen an increase in people buying to build a home such as the allotments opposite Penola High School, however once again we are not talking about hundreds of allotments so it doesn’t create a huge expansion area.”
A community consultation session on council’s draft 25 year Strategic Land Use Plan will be held on Tuesday at Rymill Hall from 6pm until 8pm.
Bookings are required for these sessions.
The draft plan is available on Council’s website.
Written submissions on the draft plan will be received until March 23.
