Charlotte Varcoe
SEVERAL residents in Pelican Point are one step closer to purchasing land from the District Council of Grant.
Earlier this week, a number of residents made a deputation to elected members regarding purchasing the scrub land between their properties and Pelican Point Road in an effort to “retain its serenity”.
Brenton Sims spoke directly to councillors during this month’s chamber meeting, stating the intention to purchase the land was also to control future fire breaks.
Mr Sims told elected members the proposal would be beneficial to both parties and guaranteed no scrub would be lost except for about five-metres near the road to further fire-proof the properties.
The seven shacks along Pelican Point all live alongside each other with no fences to separate the properties.
Mr Sims told The Border Watch purchasing the land had been on landowners agenda for a number of years.
“It has just come out recently that maybe we should look into acquiring that parcel of land to maintain its serenity,” Mr Sims said.
“Nobody wants to clear it and all we want to clear is enough in a couple of areas to give us a fire break from the scrub and reserve near us.”
He said none of the landowners wanted to change anything in the area and was not concerned about the opinion changing in the future due to long-term residency.
Mr Sims said his wife Pauline had owned the shack for almost 40 years with other residents owning their properties for up to 60 years.
“These places have been owned for years and none of our family wants to change that,” he said.
“We all have kids and grandkids and they do not want anything to change.”
He said all seven blocks had been living alongside each other in harmony, with owning the property to the road “providing security” for the future.
“If they ever wanted to come and put a service or a road through it it would completely destroy our serenity,” Mr Sims said.
“The main reason we would like to buy the parcel is to keep it the way it is, we do not want it to change.”
He said the community between the seven blocks of land was great with all residents getting along and helping one another.
“One of the property owners is in Shepparton and we cut his grass for him, maintain the area and we just do it as a little group and there is harmony everywhere,” Mr Sims said.
“The area has also been upgraded to a high fire risk area and if we get those northerly winds that will come straight through here so we need a bit of protection.”
During the meeting, elected members decided to support the proposal subject to the outcomes of a number of surveys.
These surveys include from national vegetation professionals.
“We are happy with council’s outcome because we invited some of the council members to come down and have a look,” Mr Sims said.
“If you look at the photos from the survey it does not realistically show what we have here.
“We do not have fences here, it is a completely open area and I think it has changed their view a bit.”
Mr Sims said residents did not want more land but instead wanted to secure the scrub land for the future of the area.
“We just want to try and secure this for our kids and the future grandkids because these houses are not going to change hands,” he said.
Mayor Kylie Boston said after hearing the deputation from the residents and how they were prepared to fund the “speculative approach” council resolved to support the concept in principal.
“This is subject to the native vegetation audit and surveying demonstrating a suitable proposal,” Ms Boston said.
“Council staff will now meet with the residents to begin to work through the process of the native vegetation audits and surveying.”
Ms Boston said council encouraged community members to engage with council on a variety of topics, initiatives and ideas.
“Each unique engagement or idea is considered by the council on merit,” she said.
Dr Megan Dukalskis declared a conflict of interest and left the discussion with remaining elected members agreeing to support the proposal subject to a native vegetation assessment and further reports to council.
