VCAT rejects 24/7 servo on Police Road

PC Infrastructure Pty Ltd applied for a 24/7 servo, retail store, drive-through, automatic car wash and two EV charging stations across four current housing lots at 138-144 Police Road.

The site – which would attract 214 vehicle movements per peak hour – is opposite Wellington Secondary College and a staff car park used for student pick-up and drop-off.

On appeal, Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Seuna Byrne on 19 May said a service station would “serve local community needs”.

The business would be on a “main road”, and not within a “pristine residential context” including the nearby school and Sandown Village shopping strip, she noted.

However, the proposal’s “overall intensity”, including its 24/7 operation and layout, was “too great for this mid-block, residential location”.

“I am concerned about the night-time operation of the proposal, in terms of lighting and activity, taking place immediately adjacent to the sensitive residential interface in what is presently a quiet nighttime environ.”

The drive-through access and car wash were just two metres from home backyards, Ms Byrne noted.

Nor did the proposal, with its vehicle front-accessways, provide a “generous landscaped” front setback.

“I find the proposal is an unacceptable response to the landscape character”.

She did not make findings on the servo’s impact on road safety and the effects of advertising signs up to five metres tall, noise and lightspill.

Greater Dandenong Council had earlier rejected PC’s initial proposal, citing neighbourhood character, the visual impact of advertising signs and safety on Police Road.

At the VCAT hearing, PC amended its plans with lower-scale, more residential-looking buildings, and acoustic timber fencing next to neighbouring homes.

It also modified crossovers, increased setbacks and landscaping, and reduced signage size.

Ms Byrne said she was “not persuaded that permit conditions can be crafted to respond to my findings”.

“It is not my role to redesign the proposal, which is what I consider is needed to respond to the reasons why I have determined the current permit application is not acceptable.”