BY MATTHEW TOOHEY

West Footscray residents are outraged over interim heritage controls which they say are causing them severe financial and emotional distress. 

Residents have petitioned the Maribyrnong City Council to the tune of 519 signatures, arguing that the controls, enacted late last year, are ill-considered and have been unilaterally enacted without proper community consultation.

Randall Teo, a resident of Creswick Street since 2004, said that he and his wife were in shock with the speed the interim controls took effect, leaving them unable to do anything with their property until a decision had been made.

“It’s not just from a financial standpoint, we’re on the hook from an emotional standpoint too. You just don’t know what to do at the moment,” he said. 

Mr Teo said that his property had lost $300,000 in value “overnight,” according to a valuation completed by a local real-estate agent. 

Another resident, Vas Banschikov of Napoleon Street, had recently bought intending to demolish and rebuild. Unaware that any controls had been put in place, he says he found out on a follow-up call to the council who also advised that demolition had been suspended. 

Speaking of how its impacted him and his family, he said “there's mental health, there's anxiety, there's depression, there's weight loss, weight gain. And that's just not throwing things around, it really is like that.”

“We’ve dropped a million dollars on property we can't do anything with,” he said. 

Other residents, such as David Rusicka of Napoleon Street, have questioned the council’s use of a 2018 community survey as the basis for starting the heritage overlay process.

He said that the survey carried “very little actual feedback…with only about 85 respondents”.

Mr Rusicka said that he had engaged many residents in the community and found that most had a strong view that “didn't naturally align with the council’s”.

Dr Liz Taylor, a senior lecturer in urban planning and design at Monash University, said that interim controls held an “extraordinary amount of power”, as wielded by the minister for planning Richard Wynne, which meant nothing could be altered while they were in place. 

“What's happening increasingly, and this is something that's really changed in the last few years, is that council are asking the minister for planning, who does have these pretty sweeping powers, to put in an interim heritage control while they go through their process”.

She said that whilst the regular heritage control process was “quite committed” to hearing all parties and making a balanced decision, the interim controls were immediate, without consultation and created confusion with timelines. 

“What's going to happen is, and this is a problem, it's probably going to undermine the broader [Heritage control] objectives eventually,” she said. 

“There needs to be more recognition of how property owners are directly affected… There’s really no clarity on what they should do, or whether they have an option."

Maribyrnong City Council mayor Anthony Tran was contacted, however a council spokesperson said he was unable to speak on amendments in progress. 

Mr Wynne's office was also contacted, but did not respond.

Disclosure: Dr Liz Taylor has a close relative who owns a property currently impacted by the interim controls.