Aconditional agreement will be entered into between Grant District Council and Timberlink Australia Tarpeena mill.

Following the sale of community land, council will negotiate an agreement which will require Timberlink to carry out appropriate landscaping and vegetation screening.

Council had received an expression of interest from Timberlink Australia to purchase parcels of land adjacent its site.

Governance officer Brittany Shelton’s report on the matter was presented at council’s November meeting.

Giving consideration to the responses received during community consultation, Ms Shelton recommended the condition of sale include Timberlink Australia commit towards beautifying the front of the mill with landscaping and trees.

“Timberlink have already provided the attached vegetation plan and intend to consult with the Tarpeena community directly,” she said.

Timberlink submitted concept drawings of its landscape plan to council which was included in the meeting agenda.

The plan shows existing trees to be retained, proposed screening trees and vegetation, carpark extension, entry and exit points, and new picnic shelter area.

Current business expansions at the Timberlink Tarpeena mill have resulted in additional need for staff carparking.

“The benefit of supporting the business expansion of Timberlink outweighs any negative considerations for disposing of the parcels in question,” Ms Shelton said.

She said council’s Works manager Adrian Schutz deemed that given the location, size and use, the relevant land parcels were of negligible strategic value to council.

“Following community consultation, and advice from the Department of Environment and Water, approval was sought from the Office of Local Government to finalise the revocation of community land classification,” Ms Shelton said.

This was approved by Local Government Minister Geoff Brock on November 2.

In order to finalise the process, council was required to formally revoke the community land status at its recent meeting.

As a condition of sale council has sought a minimum of two independent valuations “to ensure that an appropriate market value is obtained”.

“In this case the adjoining property has a site value per hectare of $18,590,” Ms Shelton said.

“At a total area of 1.6ha, this would give the parcels a rough combined value of $29,744.

“Discussions with a local real estate agent have indicated that industrial land is generally achieving a sale price of around $16,000 to $22,000 per hectare.

“However, given the particular location and interested parties, they agree that $18,590 per hectare is a reasonable value for the parcel.”