Edward River Village will have its first resident by next month.
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And a second is to follow soon after, with Deni Real Estate agent Kate Sparks Lindsay-Field confirming two deposits have now been received on villas in the development.
It comes five months after the first two units in the seniors living precinct officially went on sale.
It also coincides with the completion of stage one of the project last week, providing another four units which are now on sale.
Constructed so far are two ‘Booroorban’ villas, two ‘Pretty Pine’ villas and two ‘Wanganella’ villas.
Each model is slightly larger than the last, respectively, but all are wheelchair accessible and showcase quality finishes from local companies.
Each model can be viewed tomorrow at an open day, with prospective residents and interested community members invited to come along between 10am and noon.
The project has been more than six years in the making, after land was secured close to the Deniliquin CBD in 2017.
That milestone followed many more years of discussion about the need for a retirement village in Deniliquin, from community members and at a local government level.
Work on the development was finally started in 2022.
While there are still some contract processes to finalise before the first of the villas can be occupied, the progress signals a positive thrust forward for the development which has sometimes been steeped in controversy.
The project has been acknowledged as much needed in the community, however some councillors and community members have voiced concerns regarding the financial feasibility of the project.
Council’s Audit Risk and Improvement Committee advised more financial details were required before they could endorse the project back in 2021 and 2022.
By August 2022, Councillors Harold Clapham, Shirlee Burge, Pat Fogarty and Marc Petersen all voted against proceeding with stage one of the project, citing concerns with the financials and increased costs of construction at the time.
Mayor Peta Betts used her casting vote to approve the first stage of the project.
Since then the Pastoral Times has heard on numerous occasions that councillors were not being provided with the full costings on the project.
Those figures were eventually presented to all councillors by interim CEO Gary Arnold last month.
It was only days before Cr Shirlee Burge attempted to have the committee overseeing the project disbanded and all decision making brought to the full council instead, saying it would not only improve accountability on the project but ensure all councillors are adequately informed of and involved in the process.
Council director of infrastructure Mark Dalzell has said those financial reports would not be made available to the general public for “commercial in confidence” reasons.
Mayor Peta Betts said she is confident that now the project has reached its first major milestone, the value of the project will be demonstrated.
“We have talked about this project for a long time, and we received a big response for the first two units.
“Once people come and see them, we expect the other four to be sold quite quickly.
“Stage two of the project will then be triggered by the sale of these six.”
Stage two outlines the construction of another six units, but Mr Dalzell said it may be revised slightly based on community feedback.
He and Cr Betts said there was particular interest in bringing forward the construction of the communal spaces and community centre from stage three to stage two.
This may result in fewer villas being built in stage two.
At its completion, the Edward River Village is expected to accommodate 32 villas across the 2.2ha block.
Mrs Lindsay-Field said the villas completed to date are spacious and present an amazing lifestyle opportunity for those wanting to downsize.
“We’re excited to roll out the remaining four villas in stage one, and we know people have been waiting to see them.
“We had great interest when we opened the ‘Booroorban’ floor plan villas to the public earlier in the year, and we now encourage people to come down and look at the other plans.”
Senior journalist