BRIDGE builder, beef farmer and developer Nelson McIntosh will pay a further $1.7 million to consolidate his ownership of the future Bonegilla township near Lake Hume.
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Mr McIntosh, founder of Yackandandah company Nelmac, was the only bidder when 48 hectares was offered by the Albury-Wodonga Corporation at a Paull and Scollard auction on Friday.
A year ago Mr McIntosh bought an adjoining 76 hectares on Mahers Road that will also be part of the designated township area.
Also last year, Nelson and Kath McIntosh were rewarded for their land regeneration work at their Kiewa Valley property with a North-East Landcare award for their 962-hectare beef property on the Kiewa River and Finn Creek.
They had bought that from the corporation about 12 years ago.
Mr McIntosh was at Bathurst yesterday where Nelmac is building a $9 million rail bridge over the Macquarie River.
“We’d like to start on Bonegilla as soon as the infrastructure issues are worked out and I want to talk to the council about land for recreation,” he said.
He said the site would not necessarily be developed for all the 500 home sites envisaged in the structure plan approved by Wodonga Council in 2003, as creating larger lots with lake views would reduce the overall number.
The High Country rail trail track crosses the township site between the two parcels bought by Mr McIntosh.
The 48-hectare site is grazing land and contains two homes built in 1957 and 1970.
A small farm zone area is excluded from the township zone on this parcel.
A Bonegilla tavern plan was approved opposite the Bonegilla hall in 2003 and is still proposed to go ahead.
Corporation chief executive Peter Veneris said yesterday that Mr McIntosh’s purchase was encouraging.
“It was our first sale of the new financial year,” he said.
