A question from a supporter: How can the council resolve their zoning issue and keep people in their homes?

We are open to any planning solution that keeps people in their homes securely.

One solution we know of is called a “specific controls overlay.” It doesn’t require rezoning the area—Hobsons Bay City Council could simply put an overlay on all the residential buildings at Techno Park that says that people can remain living in them.

In a similar situation in the City of Yarra in 2015, the council opted to do just this. 

Yarra Councillor Stephen Jolly sent the following letter to Local Government Minister Melissa Horne and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny, outlining his learnings from Mayfield Street and calling on the ministers to support the residents of Techno Park.

"Dear Ministers,

I am writing to express my alarm about Hobsons Bay City Council’s attempted mass evictions of residents of the Techno Park Estate in Williamstown, and to share my learnings from a comparable situation in the City of Yarra.

In 2013, three families in Mayfield Street Abbotsford woke to notices from Yarra Council stating that living in their homes (townhouses and apartments built in an  
Industrial zone) was unlawful under the planning scheme, and they must cease living there immediately. As in Techno Park, these notices caused tremendous distress to the residents. Protecting their homes against Council’s sudden and arbitrary enforcement of the planning scheme ate up years of their lives.

Eventually, Yarra Council opted to use “specific controls” to allow residential use of the Mayfield Street homes, under clause 52.03 of the Yarra Planning Scheme. Simply, it kept the zone industrial and the home residential.

It is my view that a similar outcome is absolutely possible for Techno Park.

Hobsons Bay City Council have said it is not “practical” to rezone to allow residential use at Techno Park because of the proximity to the South Crude Tank Farm, which is classed as a Major Hazard Facility (MHF).

But I understand that many homes in Hobsons Bay sit within the ‘inner advisory area’ of MHFs, including a new development at Waterline Place in Williamstown, 
where a 3-bedroom apartment is on the market for 1.75 million dollars.

Furthermore, ExxonMobil confirmed to The Age that the tanks by Techno Park are empty, and have been for years. The Major Hazard Facility contains no hazard.

Hobsons Bay City Council have raised the question of their liability should a major incident take place at the empty tank farm. What is Council’s liability for the harm caused by the notice they sent to over 100 addresses at Techno Park, directing residents to leave their homes immediately or face legal action? What will be Council’s liability if residents who acted on the instruction to leave their homes immediately end up in an unsafe situation? Or, God forbid, if a resident threatened with eviction takes their life? The lessons for governments from Robodebt are clear: when governments threaten people’s livelihoods, they threaten their lives.

I have been to Techno Park and I have met with residents. It is clear to me that they love their homes and care deeply for their community. This is not just a question of roofs over heads. Techno Park is a long-term, established community that provides a safe haven for vulnerable people, including older single people without families, people living with mental illness, disabled people, First Nations people and migrants.

At the protest outside the council meeting on August 8, an 11-year-old resident who has lived with her family at Techno Park for most of her life said:

“The protest was good. I didn’t know whether everybody would ever come together like this, and now I just feel like wow, people really want to live here. Imagine peacefully sitting in the living room watching a show with one of your friends, and then suddenly you have to leave your home. I don’t know why the council had to scare us like this. We’re going to do everything we can to make it stop, because this is a community and I want it to stay like that.”

Those words tell me all I need to know about the right path forward.

I urge you to do what you can to ensure the residents of Techno Park can remain in their homes securely.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Jolly
Yarra Councillor"