THE site of the former Glen Devon Primary School has been left out of a pilot project that will allow nine disused schools across Melbourne to be transformed into community facilities and residential developments.
The state government last week announced that a land rezoning project will be piloted at nine vacant school sites across Monash, Casey and Bendigo.
Education Minister Martin Dixon said the sites could be bought by councils or interested parties and presented opportunities for economic growth and job creation.
He said selling the land would save hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance costs and prevent the buildings becoming magnets for vandals and rubbish dumping.
An Education Department spokesman said Glen Devon had been left out of the project because it was yet to be deemed surplus to educational needs. The site has been vacant since the school merged with Glen Orden Primary at the end of 2010.
“Should the site be declared surplus to educational needs, government requirements state that the department must first offer the property to other government departments, then to the local council and then to the public at a market price determined by the valuers general,” the spokesman said.
As reported by the Weekly, the school was demolished in February, more than two years after it was closed. In November, 2011, fire ripped through the site, sparking calls from residents for the land to be sold. Kevin O’Brien, who owns a property next to the school, feared the land would become a fire hazard or dumping ground.
The council and Wyndham Community and Education Centre have suggested the site be used for a community education centre.
