Brian Wilson and his wife are relieved that they are going to have the opportunity to buy land they have always thought they owned.

“We wanted to rectify it in the most common sense way and are pleased councillors voted for it,” says Brian.

The Wilsons only found out they had inadvertently placed their fence in the wrong spot four years ago, after building it in 1984.

In that period in between, they had submitted two DAs to Council – one for a pool and one for a shed – but the error was not picked up through the inspection process.

“We had no idea our land encroached on the reserve,” says Brian.

The Wilsons have been trying to find a solution ever since they heard of the problem – preferably one that didn’t involve them having to demolish their shed.

Their house, at the eastern end of Eureka Parade, backs onto a small section of unfenced reserve backing onto the Minnamurra Quarry.

Brian upgraded the fence recently, on spot where he first put a palling fence

“We had three boys under 10 and the quarry is close behind – we fenced it as soon as we could, using the existing fence of our neighbour as the starting point,” says Brian.

Their houses were the first to be built in the area surrounding the Quarry.

Over the years, the neighbours have looked after the reserve behind them, establishing gardens and lawn, which Jack has mown.

“It has been a real community effort,” he says of the land not within his boundary.

“It doesn’t go anywhere, but we like it looking good. It has never cost Council a cent to maintain. There still isn’t fence on the edge of the quarry.”

With three properties having been found to have encroachments of varying degrees into Eureka Reserve, the resolution at the July Council Meeting went against the staff recommendation to have the encroachments removed and the proper boundary re-established.

Instead, Councillors Keast and Rice against, it was decided to support the reclassification from community to operational land to enable future sale of the adjoining landowners.

Councillor Keast defended the staff recommendation, saying, “It might seem like a logical solution to sell land to those who already have structures outside their borders, but if we start to… we potentially open the floodgates for future requests.”

Other councillors felt the circumstances were unique enough to avoid it being a precedent, and that Council had been involved by letting the shed be built.

The landowners are to pay for all costs associated with the land reclassification and disposal costs, and buy the land at an independent valuation.