Rating dump doomed market

By Andrew Gunter ^*

READING Cinemas (“Carpark shuts its doors”, Leader, January 7) has little incentive to improve the old Moonee Ponds Market dustbowl.

Moonee Valley Council's former commissioners sold the site, and then dumped the site value rating system inherited from the old Essendon and Keilor councils.

In dumping this rating, the commissioners gave an incentive to land-banking owners to demolish improvements (to get a downward revaluation and a rates reduction subsidised by the rest of us) and to provide us Moonee Ponds shoppers with an urban wasteland.

The 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2008 councils left the demolition-revaluation incentive in place, despite the obvious policy fiasco imposed on the Moonee Valley community.

If the newly elected council wants to see the site developed in accordance with Planning Scheme Amendment C100 (supported by the 2008 council) without spending our hard-earned rates funds to compulsorily acquire the site, the council can get rid of the demolition-revaluation incentive by reintroducing site value rating.

If the council does not, it will just invite Reading and others to sit on their land-value increases when Amendment C100 is gazetted.

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* Letter in the Moonee Valley Leader, Jan.21, 2013, p.19. Boldface added.