August 3, 2016
Memerambi Estate owners will be receiving their first bills from the South Burnett Regional Council soon following the bailout to get the troubled housing estate back on course.
Cr Ros Heit, whose Division covers the area, took southburnett.com.au on a tour of the stalled development on Friday.
She said the work to seal the roads and fix drainage issues was almost completed.
Owners would then be able to begin the task of completing the fitting out the houses left at lock-up stage, or start construction on the vacant land.
Cr Heit said most of the owners would receive bills of about $30,000 per block with their next rates notice on August 23, although the amount would vary a little depending on whether or not they had to pay drainage charges.
The owners could elect to pay this immediately – and she believed this was the course that some planned – or they could pay it off over 10 years (including interest) through a surcharge on their rates notices.
The Memerambi Estate has been mired in controversy ever since construction of the houses began along the Bunya Highway back in 2012.
However, serious problems began when developer Summit View Meritor Pty Ltd was placed in liquidation in September 2013 without the necessary infrastructure which would have allowed the owners to move in being completed.
The semi-finished houses and vacant blocks were left unattended while a number of court cases took place.
Cr Heit said most of the owners were happy that Council had worked out a solution to kick-start the project back into life.
“Most of the owners I have spoken to seem to be pleased that something happened,” she said.
“If Council had not stepped in, nothing was going to happen otherwise. These houses could have just stood here vacant forever.”
The two affected owners in King Street, who were shocked when they first learned they were considered part of the Memerambi Estate area, now have a bitumen road running across the rear of their properties, providing potential rear access to these blocks.
Cr Heit said the charges on these blocks – one owner will face $60,000 because they have two lots backing on to the road, and the other $30,000 – would only be triggered if the owners decided to sell the blocks or develop them.
Walking around the estate, southburnett.com.au noticed some vandalism – windows smashed on a few buildings – and there were also some signs of pilfering, but it was almost unrecognisable from the last time we visited before the Council work began.
It now looks like a housing estate where people will one day live, once the owners organise the finishing touches to their buildings.
Related articles:
- Memerambi Estate Almost Finished
- Memerambi Estate Closer To Completion
- Memerambi Tender Re-Awarded
- Tender Error Causes Project Delay
- Memerambi Tenders To Be Called Soon
- Family Stunned By $64,000 Charge
- Memerambi: The Great Debate
- Memerambi Estate Fix Gets Green Light
- D-Day Looms For Memerambi
- Estate’s Fate Should Be Known Soon
- Councillors Query $3m Loan
- Memerambi Deadline Drawing Close
- Council Plugs Memerambi ‘Hole’
- Delays Anger Owners
- Memerambi Owners Offered A Way Out
- Memerambi Solution Inches Closer
- Council Puts An End To Historical Sub-Divisions
- Court Clears Way For Memerambi Solution
- TV Ambush ‘Un-Australian’
- Which Way Now For Memerambi?
- Drainage Problems ‘May Be Solved’
- Memerambi Homes ‘Not For Refugees’
Congratulations SBRC on resolving an issue that was outside of your control. Excellent outcome for the property owners and a positive result for the South Burnett community.
Fingers crossed that all goes to plan in the future for this embattled estate at Memerambi. The cost of fitting out the existing houses and bringing them up to a liveable standard plus the SBRC costs will not be cheap for the owners, given the money they have already expended to date for one reason or another.
Like most proposed developments etc in and around Kingaroy in recent years, ” I will believe it when I see it”.