Overhead powerlines that stretch across the Victorian facades of Timor Street shops have caused headaches for businesses and property owners for more than a decade.

With the powerlines so close to the buildings causing safety issues, the 'no go zones' have meant vital repairs cannot be done and left many buildings half painted.

But mayor Tony Herbert has worked with landlords, tenants and Powercor to come up with a solution that will cost the council $60,000 to help get the buildings a facelift, hopefully over summer.

Cr Mike Neoh told Monday's council meeting it was an ongoing issue and just to get the buildings painted could have been a multi-million-dollar project.

Putting the powerlines underground would have cost as much as $750,000.

Instead, the council will spend $40,000 to install temporary switching infrastructure which would isolate high voltage power for 90 days so works can safely be carried out.

The council will also spend $20,000 to employ someone to coordinate the project works.

Cr Herbert said while people sometimes got frustrated with the lead times and delays with some projects, "thank goodness we held off on this one".

"Options explored previously have had much greater dollars attracted to them but to achieve the ability to do the much needed repair work is really pleasing," he said.

Cr Herbert said he had been in touch with many of the owners and they were prepared to do the work.

"These are a very special row of buildings. Our CBD will get the much needed facelift it deserves. They are arguably some of the best examples of Victorian architecture in our city."

Clayton Harrington, from Harrington Property Group, said the Timor Street buildings were some of the most beautiful buildings left in the city and they haven't been able to be looked after.

Mr Harrington said he had owned his building for more than 20 years, and no one had been able to do anything with the top sections since safe working distance regulations were changed.

"It will be great for Warrnambool to be able to get in and clean all these beautiful buildings up. We've been wanting to do it for years," he said.

Cr Neoh described the deal as a good compromise.

Cr Sue Cassidy said it had been a long drawn out process trying to get it all coordinated and get the right result with not too big a cost to anyone involved.

"The fact that they'll be able to use local traders and buy the supplies here I think is good stimulus for our area at the moment and I really look forward to this area being finished," she said.

Cr Kylie Gaston described it as a win for the landlords, the tenants and the community.

"We all like to be proud of our beautiful city and our lovely buildings on Timor Street which are in a continuing state of decline as they can't be accessed for maintenance," she said.

She said she supported the move to fund a project manager to coordinate the works. "It's going to have to be very highly managed," she said.

Councillors congratulated Cr Herbert and infrastructure director Scott Cavanagh on their work finding a solution, which Cr Gaston said had brought it to a head "far more quickly than we could have anticipated".

Cr Peter Sycopoulis said, while he was not suggesting anyone was dragging their feet on this, it was very long overdue.

"It's been a very long and difficult process to get to this point," he said.

Cr David Owen took a swipe at Powercor over the issue in what he said was a very important precinct.

"They're beautiful buildings, they truly are. What organisation in their right mind would cover them in lines like that? It's just offensive," he said.

"Even in Koroit Street their lines across the balconies of all the shops, but there it's a car crash.

"Powercor should be fitting the whole bill for messing us around for so long, but that was never going to happen.

Our COVID-19 news articles relating to public health and safety are free for anyone to access. However, we depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.