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<\/p>\nThe intergenerational failure to develop Solomon Heights has been blamed on a tangle of planning problems, according to Brimbank City Council analysis: it\u2019s hard to reach, with one road in and out of the precinct; its residential-sized lots are unsuitable for large-scale industry; and its neglected expanses are a refuge for several critically endangered plants and animals, including the striped legless lizard and the golden sun moth, which are protected under federal and state environmental laws.<\/p>\n
But the century-long campaign to develop Solomon Heights has never stopped.<\/p>\n
Glen Ora, a company that owns the undeveloped roads in the southern half of the precinct, has launched legal action to try to connect the area to water and kickstart development.<\/p>\n
The company has gone to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, appealing Greater Western Water\u2019s refusal earlier this year to grant water connection permits in the precinct. A statement of contentions seen by The Age says the refusal \u201cwould stifle and prevent the future creation of infrastructure works in the subdivision\u201d.<\/p>\n
The company has also approached the Department of Transport and Planning about developing Solomon Heights for housing, but it has been told there are no plans to rezone the area from industrial to residential.<\/p>\n
Glen Ora director Ron Silverstein was reluctant to comment to this masthead about his company\u2019s legal bid to force Greater Western to plumb the estate before VCAT has made a decision.<\/p>\n
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Solomon Heights has become a magnet for illegal rubbish dumping.Credit: Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019m prepared to say is there\u2019s an enormous amount of green tape involved in a transaction like this \u2026 from the Commonwealth, state and council,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge regulatory system, which is complex, very expensive, and you need very deep pockets to do something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company is fighting to develop the Solomon Heights as it awaits a separate judgment over whether it is liable for rubbish dumping on the land.<\/p>\n
The Commonwealth-run Australian Rail Track Corporation, which owns land in Solomon Heights, has sued Glen Ora for more than $828,000, plus costs and interest. According to a statement of claim filed in court, subcontractors hired by Glen Ora dumped contaminated construction spoil, including asbestos, copper and lead, on ARTC-owned land. <\/p>\n
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Glen Ora has denied liability for the dumped spoil and a judgment is pending.<\/p>\n
When The Age visited Solomon Heights last week, it was clear rubbish dumping was a persistent problem. There were piles of old tyres, a rusted car body, mounds of mangled wires and rotting timber. The flat, grassy terrain is also choked with artichoke thistle and prickly pear.<\/p>\n
But Silverstein was eager to show this masthead something else that grows hidden among the weeds, and which is key to the precinct\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the features of this property is that it\u2019s got a critically endangered plant and I don\u2019t want you to laugh when you see it. It\u2019s extremely valuable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In an overgrown corner of the estate near the Melbourne-Sydney railway line, eight spiny rice-flower plants grow, although only a trained eye would spot them.<\/p>\n
Each critically endangered plant is marked by a stake tied with a ribbon. The delicate yellow-flowered plants are protected under environment and biodiversity laws.<\/p>\n
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There are 240 critically endangered spiny rice-flowers growing in Solomon Heights.<\/p>\n
There are 240 spiny rice-flowers in the estate, according to ecological surveys.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople look at them and they can\u2019t understand why they\u2019re so important, and the answer is, I don\u2019t know either,\u201d Silverstein said.<\/p>\n
Brimbank council has spent several years in a state of planning paralysis over Solomon Heights.<\/p>\n
In a 2019 report, it named the existence of protected plants and animals as a key impediment to development, along with the difficulty of getting property owners in the precinct to agree on a way forward.<\/p>\n
In 2022, it completed a feasibility study into creating a conservation reserve in the northern part of the estate. The Age sought a copy of the study via a freedom-of-information request but was denied, with the council saying the report is confidential.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe document contains land use planning information, being information that, if prematurely released, is likely to encourage speculation in land values, which can be commercially sensitive,\u201d Brimbank said.<\/p>\n
Individual lots are currently listed for more than $230,000 each.<\/p>\n
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The council said it has no plans to pursue public acquisition of any part of the estate.<\/p>\n
Lancashire argues that the southern part of the estate should be developed into an industrial estate that would boost local employment, and the northern section converted into an environmental reserve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a way forward,\u201d he says. \u201cTo see that this has been going on in my community for 100 years is gut-wrenching \u2026 we\u2019ve done environmental study after environmental study. We need to stop the delays, we need to come back with a report on how to actually do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Monash University senior lecturer in urban planning Dr Elizabeth Taylor has studied Solomon Heights and other \u201czombie subdivisions\u201d like it, which are \u201cthe living dead of the real estate market\u201d, seemingly trapped in time and unable to be developed.<\/p>\n
In her research, Taylor wrote that many potential solutions have been posed for the estate but \u201ca default position of inaction has defined it for nearly a century\u201d.<\/p>\n
This is partly because current planning laws were not written with a 99-year-old riddle like Solomon Heights in mind. But mostly, it comes down to the cost of fixing the problem and the likely gap between what the council would be prepared to spend on compensation versus what the private landowners would demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can imagine Solomon Heights maybe being a cool park or something like that, but it just gets stuck because nobody wants to pay for it,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n