VCAT orders DCSCA to pay $5,500 legal bill

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The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) has ordered the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) to pay $5,500 in legal costs to Caltex franchisee Milemaker Petroleum by 7 December 2015.

The service station being built

Milemaker Petroleum had asked VCAT for $26,000 in legal costs. It is building a service station at the junction of Jetty Road and High Street, Drysdale, having received planning permission by the City of Greater Geelong council.

DCSCA's case

DCSCA had asked VCAT to overturn Milemaker’s planning permission for two reasons.

First, the association argued that the council had ignored local opposition to the proposal. When the council invited public comment on Milemaker’s proposal in January 2014, every submission opposed it, arguing that a service station was inappropriate at that location, which is zoned Rural Living. Prior to the VCAT hearing in May 2015, more than 400 people signed a DCSCA petition opposing the service station, most saying that they hadn’t heard of it.

Second, the association argued that planning permission for the service station was inconsistent with the council’s refusal of planning permission for a child care centre in the same Rural Living zone, deeming a commercial development inappropriate.

The site as it was

At the VCAT hearing, the association wasn’t allowed to put its case. Milemaker’s lawyers argued that the association’s application should be dismissed, as it had been submitted after the due date for such applications. The chair of the hearing agreed, dismissed the application and invited Milemaker to apply for its legal costs.

DCSCA's costs alternative gains wide support

DCSCA asked VCAT not to award legal costs against it and, instead, to make each side pay its own costs. The request received widespread support, including representatives from each level of government: local federal MPs Richard Marles and Sarah Henderson, local state MP and Environment Minister Lisa Neville and local councillor Rod Macdonald. Support also came from local community groups, including the Bellarine Catchment Network, Bike Safe and the Clifton Springs Tennis Club.

Further, an online petition (organised independently of DCSCA) asking VCAT not to make DCSCA pay Milemaker’s legal costs has gathered 349 signatures.

Nonetheless, VCAT ordered the community association to pay Milemaker $5,500 in legal costs.

The association plans to ask Milemaker to write off the $5,500 as a gesture of good will to the local community.

Council halts work on service station

The City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) has ordered Milemaker Petroleum to stop work on the site of its proposed service station at the Jetty Road roundabout.

Just a few weeks ago .....

The council has given overall planning permission for the proposed service station, but it has yet to approve several details of its construction, including drainage, waste management and road works. The council has received plans from Milemaker concerning these issues, but has yet to approve them. Until it does, Milemaker can undertake "site preparation", but nothing more.

The council has judged that Milemaker's work to date on the site constitutes more than "site preparation" - instead, it has "changed the topography of the land". This is considered to be a 'development' of the site and, as such, is not allowed. Consequently, the council has ordered Milemaker Petroleum to stop work on the site and is liaising with them on those issues of detail.

DCSCA and VCAT - latest news.
VCAT has ruled that DCSCA's application to overturn the council's planning permission for the service station was “misconceived”. Consequently, DCSCA representatives didn't have a chance to present their arguments and describe the level of local unrest about the service station. Milemaker Petroleum has indicated that it intends to make a claim for costs. VCAT will provide a timetable for Milemaker to make a formal submission for costs and for DCSCA to reply, but as of 23 April, nothing has been received.

DCSCA is trying to obtain some free legal assistance around the issue of costs; we will also seek letters of support from appropriate individuals and organisations.

DCSCA's continuing role.
DCSCA continues to try to be the voice of the community. It is trying to obtain the best outcome on the following issues: -
a) Protect the nearby dam by requesting groundwater pollution monitoring
b) Ensure that the council's Engineering Dept. knows of the community's concern about the safety – especially for cyclists and pedestrians – of the entry and exit points of the site.
c) Ensure that the construction process minimises disruption and inconvenience to nearby residents and disruption to traffic at this busy intersection.
d) Ensure that Milemaker keeps it commitment (in its application for planning permission) to re-plant and landscape the site

Once again: the case against the service station

When the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Inc. (DCSCA) issued its Media Release concerning support by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for a third service station in Drysdale, it attached a summary (below) of its opposition to the proposed service station.

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

Why did DCSCA oppose a Service Station at this location?

During the process DCSCA progressively formed the view that: -

1.     The City of Greater Geelong's (CoGG) notification process did not notify the community adequately, so the vast majority of residents remained unaware of the proposal, hence denying them the opportunity to comment.

2.     The proposal is inappropriate in a Rural Living Zone and contrary to CoGG's own Structure Plan for Drysdale & Clifton Springs.

3.     It would spoil the rural ambience of the entry into the Drysdale & Clifton Springs township.

4.     It would increase congestion on a major traffic hub that is vital to the north Bellarine and is congested significantly already.

5.     There were ingress/egress traffic safety issues as, at busy times, there would be queues of traffic and reduced visibility in the region of the crest of hill.

6.     It would seriously compromise the safety of cyclists. This was of major concern to DCSCA as the proposed service station is located on the Principal Bicycle Network (PBN) and is on a commuter route to three nearby schools.

7.     The Bellarine would suffer traffic disruption for months on end during the construction phase.

8.     It was inappropriate so close to a private dam.

Subsequent to a front-page newspaper item in October 2014, DCSCA formed the further views that: -

1.     Most people had been unaware of the proposal and now there was significant opposition within the community.

2.     There were legitimate planning concerns. A critical examination of the State and Local Planning Policy Frameworks showed that the proposal did not comply with several clauses.

3.     There is a classified 200 metre “sensitive zone” around underground petroleum storage systems (UPSSs). The nearby private dam is part of a designated watercourse (Scarborough Creek) and is only about 70 m away from where UPSSs will be installed. DCSCA considered that this had serious implication with respect to the State Environment Protection Policy (Groundwaters of Victoria).

4.     The local community wanted an independent review by VCAT and considered that DCSCA was the appropriate body to lodge such an application.

The DCSCA Committee,  April 2015.

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/

A service station at Jetty Road roundabout: the case against

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Next week, the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) will ask VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) to overturn the City of Greater Geelong's decision to approve a service station at the junction of Jetty Road and High Street, Drysdale.

What follows is DCSCA's formal 'Statement of Grounds Summary' to VCAT.

On behalf of the members of the Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) and residents of Drysdale Clifton Springs, DCSCA has compiled the following Statement of Grounds Summary:

1. Notification Process

DCSCA believes that residents along the nearby designated watercourse (Scarborough Creek), and most of the population of the Bellarine, would consider that they would be materially affected by this development.  The City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) did not take “reasonable measures” to comply with Section 52, thus denying these residents the opportunity to comment.

2. Hearing Panel Process

This did not address the concerns raised by the community.

3. The officer’s report (on which the approval of the application was granted)

This contained errors, omissions, outdated, conflicting and misleading information, unsubstantiated opinion and failed to direct the hearing panel to the correct Decision Guidelines as required by State Planning Policy Framework. A crucial summary item presented to the Hearing Panel was inconsistent with statements under Assessment Local Policy Framework within the report.

4. The assessment process

This was flawed – priority was not given to the criteria specified under Clause 65 (Decision Guidelines): -

• The application fails to respond to Clause 11.05-3 (Rural Productivity), Clause 21.07-5 (Rural Areas) Clause 21.14 (The Bellarine Peninsula), Clause 22.04 (Discretionary uses in Rural Living and Low Density Residential Areas) and Clause 35.03 (Rural Living Zone).

• The proposal is not consistent with the Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure Plan 2010, which identifies the site and surrounds should be maintained as a rural residential character.

• The proposal fails to meet the criteria Clause 17.01.1 (Economic Development – Business) in that it presents no evidence that it needs to be at this location and not at another location on the highway that is consistent with the DCS Structure Plan.

• The proposal is not consistent with Clause 18.01 (Transport System) in that it does not provide an amenity that is lacking on the transport route and will increase traffic congestion and will significantly compromise the safety of cyclists.

• The proposal is not consistent with the purpose of Clause 35.03 (Rural Living Zone) or its decision guidelines. The proposal seeks to introduce a commercial development, which is at odds with the rural residential character of the area. Furthermore, the proposed use is not associated with a residential or agricultural use.

• The application does not satisfactorily respond to Clause 65 (Decision Guidelines). An assessment against the required relevant decision guidelines would not support the application.

5. Traffic issues 

Serious safety concerns, congestion, danger to cyclists using the Principal Bicycle Network (PBN).

6. Environmental Issues – degradation to area, pollution, litter

• The application will have a negative impact on the nearby dam and associated watercourse contravening the State Environment Protection Policy (Groundwaters of Victoria).

• The application requires the installation of underground petroleum systems in an identified “sensitive site”.

• There is a long-term risk of a toxic site in a sensitive location close to a designated watercourse.

7. Reduced ambience and amenity

8. The City of Greater Geelong did not consider community opinion.

Can 47 people be wrong about a service station?

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The City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) has granted Caltex franchisee Milemaker Petroleum planning permission to build the service station in a Rural Living zone of Drysdale, despite having received 47 objections from local people.

The objections to the proposal are summarised below. They fall into four broad categories: environmental, aesthetic, economic and democratic.

1. Environmental objections

The site of the proposed service station is the junction of Jetty Road and High Street, Drysdale. This junction is the only route into and out of the north of the Bellarine Peninsula and regularly sees traffic jams that frustrate motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. A service station at this site will increase traffic congestion, increasing travel times, wasting fuel, increasing air pollution and heightening the risk to cyclists and pedestrians.

Any service station poses significant risks to its environs, because it stores large volumes of fuels and other chemicals, Spillage or leaks from tankers, leaks from storage tanks and spillage from customers will be washed into the storm water system, threatening the underground water system, the nearby Lake Lorne and the permanent spring just across Jetty Road (and downhill) from the site.

Finally, the proposed service station will be open 24 hours a day, filling the area around it with light and noise at levels normally associated  with the centre of a city, not the entrance to a rural town.

2. Aesthetic objections

The proposed service station would severely compromise the rural ambience of the approach to Drysdale and Clifton Springs. This ambience exists because areas close to the town centre - including the site of the proposed service station - are Rural Living zones. These zones allow homes in a rural environment and are meant to protect and enhance the area’s natural resources, biodiversity and landscape and heritage.

Siting a service station in a Rural Living Zone would threaten local 'green space', already under threat from massive new housing estates approved already by the council, contradicting its own Structure Plan for Drysdale and Clifton Springs, which requires the towns’ rural ambience to be maintained.

Council officers told people who objected to this industrial use of a Rural Living zone that a service station is a 'discretionary' development in a Rural Living Zone. Consequently, objections that the proposal would be inappropriate were simply wrong in legal terms.

However, subsequent to approving the Service Station, the council rejected a planning permit for a Child Care Centre in Jetty Road on the grounds that it was inappropriate in a Rural Living Zone and inconsistent with the Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure Plan! In this case, the council agreed with the 15 submissions objecting to the proposal; yet it approved the service station proposal despite 47 objections to it!

3. Economic objections

Objectors were concerned that Milemaker's proposed service station would be just a few hundred metres from the two existing ones; and that an application is likely for a service station at the Woolworths-led shopping centre in the new Curlewis estate, bringing the local total to four.

Objectors were concerned that an over-supply of service stations in the area could reduce profitability for all of them or even force one out of business. Either result would be bad for the local economy; and closure would bring all the environmental problems associated with ‘decommissioning’ a service station.

In reply, council officers said that economic considerations such as these were irrelevant to decisions on applications for planning permits – which perhaps helps to explain the current state of central Geelong’s economy!

4. Democratic objections

The council’s handling of this application has been inept in three ways. First, it gave people a shorter time (17 days) to comment than it took to process the application (22 days). Secondly, CoGG invited public comment at a time when a lot of local people were away on holiday and, therefore, unable to comment. Finally, the council displayed two A4 notices about the proposal on the property itself, but access to them was virtually impossible for many people, including those with prams/pushchairs and anyone with limited mobility.

Despite all those problems, 47 people made submissions to the council about the proposal. All of them opposed it, saying clearly that the community does not want a Service Station at that location.

For years, community associations (including those on the Bellarine) and individuals have criticised the council’s ‘consultations’ and proposed improvements, but with no effect.

Locals petition against proposed Drysdale service station

The Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association (DCSCA) has launched a petition calling on the City of Greater Geelong (CoGG) to reverse its recent decision to allow a Caltex service station in a Drysdale Rural Living Zone.

CoGG is supporting Caltex franchisee Milemaker Petroleum's proposal to build a service station at the junction of Drysdale High Street and Jetty Road.

In response, DCSCA members and supporters have asked the Victorian Civil and Administrative tribunal (VCAT) to review CoGG's support for the proposal; and they have launched a petition against the proposed service station. The petition reads as follows:

Service station at the Jetty Road roundabout? No thanks!

We the undersigned request the City of Greater Geelong to cancel permit 1565/2013.

We believe: -

• There has been inadequate community consultation in the Planning Process.
• It is inappropriate in a Rural Living Zone and inconsistent with the Drysdale Clifton Springs Structure Plan.
• It will increase traffic congestion in an already congested area, cause major traffic safety issues and greatly increase the danger to cyclists.
• It will cause significant environmental issues: underground fuel storage tanks inevitably cause long-term issues and toxins could enter the underground water system and pollute the nearby bodies of water.
• It will severely compromise the rural amenity of the approach into the Drysdale Clifton Springs Township.
• Should a service station be required, it should be located in a commercial area.

 Name
Address/email
Signed

The petition will be submitted by the Drysdale & Clifton Springs Community Association Secretary, Mr. Neil McGuinness, e-mail mcgni@bigpond.com

Community concerns ignored
The council's support for the service station ignores widespread concerns in the community and contradicts the council's own Structure Plan for Drysdale & Clifton Springs; and many in the local community are angry at the council's high-handed approach to this issue.*

Indeed, CoGG's consultations around the proposal have been so poor that many local people learnt of the proposal only after CoGG had declared its support for it and granted a planning permit.**

DCSCA Secretary Neil McGuinness said, "Lake Lorne, McLeod's Waterholes and green spaces  all contribute to our townships' distinctive rural ambience; and the thoughtful location of shops and services have maintained its village atmosphere. All of this is well worth preserving - as the council's Structure Plan for the area emphasises.

"Locals would be very distressed, he said, "if the horses that currently occupy the site of the proposed service station were replaced by a hazardous eyesore surrounded by dangerous, congested traffic."


* See "Council dismisses environmental and economic objection to service station" (13 March 2014); and "Council rebuffs service station objectors" (17 April 2014) on this blog.
** See "Council restricts public comment on proposed new service station in Drysdale" (29 January 2014) on this blog.