By Casey Neill
Emerald’s garden centre is no more, but its closure is driving heated debate in the township.
The Emerald and District Co-operative Society closed the Mitre10 Garden Centre’s doors for the final time on Friday 31 August, after the site owner sold the land to the SES.
The Mail received emails and calls from several people claiming to be co-op members who were unhappy with the sale process.
They claimed that the State Government and Monbulk MP James Merlino had “swooped in” and “trumped the (co-op) offer at the last minute”.
The Mail has confirmed through several sources that this is untrue.
Victoria SES spokesman Matt Gallant said the organisation was a legitimate participant in the tender process and made a successful bid in accordance with a Valuer General’s assessment.
“All land purchased by VICSES adheres to the State Government land monitor purchasing approval process,” he said.
“This purchase followed an extensive investigation, which determined the current Emerald SES site could not accommodate the required development and an alternative site would need to be sought.”
The “co-op member” also claimed the group had recently made other decisions without consulting stakeholders.
Emerald and District Co-operative Society CEO Len O’Donnell said there was no co-op member by the name this person provided, and that they had tried to post “many untruths” on the Emerald and Surrounds Facebook site.
“It was along with three other attempts via fake names and same article not published by the moderator,” he said.
The new Emerald SES headquarters is due to open mid next year.
The tin shed on the Old Gembrook Road site the Emerald SES has called home for 35 years has long been inadequate, but the site’s topography made it impossible to build a larger unit there.
