Wollongong City Council is looking to buy a house with a pool in Corrimal for $720,000.
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Once purchased – for about $80,000 less than what real estate website Domain estimates the house could be worth in today’s market – the house will be knocked down and the block reclassified as community land.
The costly exercise is part of a buyback scheme for houses which have a high flood risk.
According to a council report, the owners of the property accepted the offer of $720,000 and have agreed to a four-week settlement so the council can access funding from the NSW Government.
If the council completes the purchase before June 30, the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) will kick in $480,000 for the purchase price and $20,000 toward the demolition.
This means the council will have to stump up $240,000 of its own cash, and will also have to pay another $20,000 to knock the house down.
After the demolition is complete, the council will also have to pay about $3000 to fund the ongoing maintenance of the new community land.
The buyback scheme came after the council conducted its Collins Creek floodplain risk management study in 2010, which identified that the Wilford Street home was “in [a] high risk flooding area due to stormwater overflow”.
Under the same scheme, the council also has its eye on a run-down one bedroom shack on the Princes Highway, Woonona.
However, the owners of this property did not respond when contacted in 2016, the council said
Since 1990, the council has bought back at least 65 properties for flood control purposes with the help of OEH.
These have included dozens of land lots on Buringbar and Bong Bong Streets in Dapto, an entire street (Anama Street) in Fairy Meadow, and land in Bulli, Towradgi, Figtree and Woonona.
Buybacks are just one part of the council’s costly, and controversial, program to reduce flood risk across the local government area.
Between now and 2021, the council has plans to spend just over $1.1 million on completing floodplain management studies, and more than $900,000 reviewing flood studies and management plans.
In the 2017/18 budget – now on exhibition – the council plans to spend $6.47 million on stormwater and floodplain management, which includes the design and construction of various structures and pipes to reduce or prevent flood risk.
Councillors will consider the Wilford Street purchase at Monday night’s meeting.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
