Ballarat City Council to consider new laws for derelict buildings.

Derelict and rundown buildings are set for a shake-up when Ballarat City Council considers new laws to enforce responsible ownership of empty properties.
A local laws draft will consider penalties for dilapidated buildings that are unoccupied, unfit for occupation or normal use, or not occupied most of the time.
Council infrastructure and environment director Terry Demeo said the draft will be available to the community in the coming weeks.
The new laws ensure property owners;
1/ Must not permit any structure to become dilapidated or further dilapidated.
​2/ Make all reasonable steps to secure the building and land from unauthorised access

​3/ Maintain any building in a state of good repair and appearance, including undertaking temporary repairs as required to ensure on-site safety and security and to avoid the appearance of neglect out of character with other allotments in the vicinity.
4/ Must not allow any graffiti to remain on any building, wall, fence, post or other structure or object erected on that land.
​By Ballarat Courier 14th May 2017

Anger at state of former Ballarat Orphanage

Heritage experts, former residents and the City of Ballarat mayor have all expressed concern at the state of the Ballarat Orphanage site which has been in disrepair following works in 2016. 
The site was most recently used as the Damascus College junior school before being purchased by Victoria Street Developments Pty Ltd in 2011. 
After ongoing discussions with council, development of the 5.2-hectare site was given the go-ahead in 2015, however a number of elements of the site including the former schoolhouse, the toddlers' block and a wall on Stawell Street were given heritage protection.  
While demolition works were undertaken in January 2016, the site has since sat vacant.  Former orphanage resident Deborah Findlay said she was disappointed the buildings had been left in a state of disrepair given their heritage overlay.  
“(The developers) knew from day one the history and significance of the site, and I’m angry at them and the council for allowing it to look derelict,” Ms Findlay said.   
Developers had originally proposed to build 90 medium density houses as well as a shopping complex and a medical centre.  
Speaking to The Courier in 2015 developer Gerard Cosgrave said the proposed development could not go ahead if parts of the site, including the house and wall, were protected in full.  Mr Cosgrave has since left the development group. 
Ballarat historian Anne Beggs-Sunter described the state of the buildings as “demolition by neglect” and said their deteriorating condition impacted all of Ballarat.
“Victoria Street is the prime entrance to the city so we don’t want eyesores,” Ms Beggs-Sunter said.  “The council work so hard on the beautification of the gardens on the street but when you see the state of the orphanage it’s depressing.” 
In a statement City of Ballarat’s acting director of development and planning Angelique Lush said the heritage overlay only came into play if the owners applied to develop the site.  She said “council officers have met, and will continue to meet, with the owners’ representatives who are working through the requirements of the Development Plan Overlay to enable an application to be lodged with council”.
Mayor Samantha Mclntosh also expressed her concern, saying “the concept of ‘demolition by neglect’ of our heritage assets, whether in private or public hands, is not one that is acceptable on any level”.
Victoria Street Developments Pty Ltd director Brett Foote said the company remained in ongoing dialogue with council around the development, but declined to say if works would proceed or if the heritage-listed buildings would be repaired.​By Brendan Wrigley Ballarat Courier 8th Feb 2017

Ballarat Orphanage site condition questioned!

 ​The derelict former orphanage on Victoria Street has once again come under scrutiny following a complaint made at Ballarat City Council’s ordinary meeting on Wednesday night.
The ruined building has been an orphanage and a junior school campus for Damascus College in the past.
Ballarat resident Keith Wray said the site did not provide a good first look of Ballarat.
”I see these buildings and think they are a poor example of what Ballarat is,” he said.
Ballarat mayor Samantha McIntosh said laws to force owners to maintain their property would be considered.
“We don't have a regulation that would allow us to enforce the property owner to maintain the site,” she said. By Ballarat Courier Jeremy Venosta 11th  May 2017