Northern Grampians Shire Council leaders have acknowledged community concern after issuing a planning permit for a Mobil service station at 61-71 Longfield Street, Stawell.
The council knocked back the proposed development in May this year, with councillors concerned at potential negative impacts on amenity, road safety and resident health and safety, as well as its effect on the character and orderly planning of the area.
In response, developer Ketan and Kinal Property took the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, VCAT, in June.
Mayor Karen Hyslop said in a preliminary compulsory conference at VCAT, council representatives and the applicant agreed on multiple amendments to address concerns raised by the council and the community, including decreasing the service station’s operating hours from a 24-hour service to between 5am and 11pm.
Cr Hyslop said the revised proposal also included measures to address resident concerns of noise and light pollution, with the applicant agreeing to provide more acoustic fencing, to relocate an underground vent and adopt a new landscaping layout.
“We appreciate this does not necessarily address all of the concerns raised, however, we do believe the amendments go some way towards mitigating the key challenges raised during the initial permit review,” she said.
Cr Hyslop said the council agreed to the changes during the compulsory conference – a preliminary VCAT hearing that enables both parties to continue to negotiate changes – rather than progress to a merits hearing, where a VCAT member would settle the matter.
“The reason council agreed to the proposed changes at the compulsory conference stage and decided not to escalate to the merits hearing stage was to safeguard some of the positive changes agreed by the applicant,” she said.
“There was no guarantee these changes would have been secured if the matter progressed to a merits hearing, where council could have walked away with a less than positive outcome for our community.
“Our role is to advocate on behalf of residents to achieve outcomes that seek fair and favourable results where possible, which is what we believe we have achieved in this case.”
Cr Hyslop said the council did not usually make formal comments about permit applications and outcomes, but acknowledged heightened community interest surrounding the issue.
“We know there was quite a bit of community concern about the application through the formal objections we received, but also informally via online discussion forums,” she said.
“We thought it was prudent to acknowledge these concerns and provide clarity around why a permit was ultimately granted for community awareness purposes.”
Cr Hylsop said all planning applications were independently reviewed, meaning no precedent had been set for similar applications in the future.
“Every permit is reviewed and assessed individually as no two projects are ever the same. The community can have confidence that any new applications, whether they be of a completely different or a similar nature, will not be influenced by the process that has unfolded with this application,” she said.
Extracted in full from: https://theweeklyadvertiser.com.au/articles/council-offers-servo-planning-permit-clarity/
