Mildura Rural City Councillors will in June this year consider a crucial document that will guide the next major wave of development in the Mildura area, following a decision to defer the matter at this month's Ordinary Council meeting.
The Mildura East Growth Area (MEGA) Strategic Framework Vision and Key Directions Report is the result of months of work, including several rounds of public consultation, and focuses on a 1,050-hectare area of land to the east of Mildura between Irymple and Nichols Point.
Mildura Mayor Liam Wood said that by deferring the matter for a couple of months it would allow further time for Councillors to consider such an important report.
"This is a huge project and we need to remember it deals with a staged approach – it's planning for the next 100 years and Councillors need more time to really read the detail, to get their head around it," Cr Wood said.
"We're no longer a small rural town, we're an economic powerhouse regional city and we need to start approaching strategic planning matters with this in mind, as we need to get it right."
The MEGA Strategic Framework Vision and Key Directions Report proposes to divide the growth corridor into three main component areas - a series of residential growth precincts to the south, continuing the growth already occurring in Irymple, larger lot residential growth precincts to the north, building on growth in Nichols Point, and a non-urban area in between.
These two growth precinct areas represent enough land proposed to accommodate growth for the foreseeable future, with only five of the 15 additional individual precinct cells likely to be required in the next 25 years, based on the projected demand and rate of growth.
The report indicates that dividing the Mildura East Growth Area into three component areas is a necessary step, with development to the north and south of the growth corridor projected to expand from areas that already have existing infrastructure, such as drainage.
This builds and links into existing drainage infrastructure, rather than trying to establish costly infrastructure in isolated, unconnected patches of the growth corridor in a piecemeal approach.
Cr Wood said as the report deals with an area this large, and with so many lots of land, he understood the difficulty of meeting each individual landowners' expectations or future plans.
"But by deferring the matter, it provides more time for the Councillors to really gain a thorough understanding of both the report," he said.
"It's also important to mention that through the consultation process extensive input from Lower Murray Water was considered to enable full response to their advice."
More broadly, the Mildura East Growth Area Strategic Framework Vision and Key Directions Report serves three important purposes:
- provides clarity to landowners regarding timeframes for development, to help with any future decisions.
- ensuring the location and staging of development aligns with where drainage infrastructure can be provided effectively and affordably
- provide a clear picture of land use and activity, which will allow for the early planning of services, facilities and linkages - making sure the area is a well serviced and a connected community.
