By Goya Dmytryshchak
A premium Williamstown development site that has been in the hands of VicRoads since the 1970s is up for sale.
The 2435-square-metre corner landholding at 9-27 Kororoit Creek Road is listed for sale by Savills.
But Williamstown residents are concerned the site is being sold on the cusp of a major redevelopment of North Williamstown railway station which is across the road.
The level crossing will be removed, but the design of the grade separation is unknown.
Resident Cliff Elliott said it was unfair to sell the land for a development when future residents could be staring at an “ugly overpass”.
“Us people here are up in arms about them selling it now because they’re probably going to put an overpass in there … they shouldn’t be selling public land until they finish the job,” he said.
“It’s a bit contentious – you buy a block of land and they’re going to start doing an overpass at the station 50 yards away, and people might have a big eyesore in front of their house.”
VicRoads regional director Vince Punaro said the Hobsons Bay council and the Level Crossing Removal Authority had advised that they did not require the land.
“VicRoads acquired the [site] … in the 1970s and 1980s for the purposes of widening the road,” he said. “This was subsequently abandoned due to widening on the northern side of the road. The land has been declared surplus.
“A condition of this was that the vehicle crossovers to Kororoit Creek Road be consolidated in a single entry to the site from Swanston Street [on the western boundary].”
Plans for a $20 million nursing home on the other side of North Williamstown station have been withdrawn. The Department of Health and Human Services had entered a contract to sell land at 5 Power Street to Southern Cross Care, with the settlement contingent on planning approval for the proposed nursing home.
