VCAT supports 3rd service station in Drysdale

The Victorian Civil and Adminstrative Tribunal (VCAT) has supported an application by Caltex franchisee Milermaker Petroleum to build a service station at the junction of Jetty Road and High Street, Drysdale.

The site of the proposed service station, looking north from the Jetty Rd. roundabout

Following VCAT's announcement, the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Inc. (DCSCA) issued the following Media Release.

MEDIA  RELEASE re VCAT ruling April 2015 - Jetty Rd. Service Station

Issued by the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association. 9 April 2015

Local non-profit organisation, Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association, accepts VCAT's ruling, but wishes to express its profound disappointment with the Council procedure which has permitted the service station at 331-334 Jetty Rd., Drysdale to go ahead.

After unsuccessfully attempting to stop the permit being granted at Council hearings in 2014, DCSCA submitted an appeal to VCAT to have the permit for the service station, granted by the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) last August, cancelled or amended. Its grounds for the appeal were that the location was destructive to the rural amenity of the entrance to our townships, and more importantly, that it put motorists, cyclists and the environment at risk.

DCSCA was supported by Environment Minister Lisa Neville, Bellarine Catchment Network chief Matt Crawley, and hundreds of local residents.

The Association did not receive the chance to put its case to a full hearing, as, owing to the unavoidable lateness of its appeal, and lack of financial resources, it faced insurmountable legal hurdles.

DCSCA wishes to state that its motives were, from the outset, the safety and well-being of the community it represents. It responded to significant public opposition to the service station and sought to act honestly and correctly at all times. It now faces the possibility of unspecified legal costs being awarded against it.

As a result, DCSCA is not able to take further legal action.

DCSCA wishes to thank all the members of the Drysdale and Clifton Springs community who have supported it throughout this saga, now in its third year, and also to express its solidarity with residents living near the site, whose amenity, property value and quality of life have been compromised so severely.

For more details and information on this and other matters of interest to the community, please email DCSCA Secretary Neil McGuinness at mcgnj@bigpond.com

For more information on why DCSCA appealed to VCAT, visit http://drycliftdays.blogspot.com.au/