By Mikayla van Loon
A proposal to build a second service station in Mount Evelyn has left over one hundred residents and concerned parents baffled by the choice of location.
The planning application for 41 Monbulk Road was first submitted to Yarra Ranges Council in 2020 by Peregrine Corporation to build a service station with fuel access, car wash facilities and a convenience store with a drive through.
Previously the Mt Evelyn Garden and Produce, the property neighbours houses to the right and rear, with Mount Evelyn Primary School two doors down on the left.
Yarra Ranges Council confirmed so far 174 letters of objection have been received, with a single letter of support also submitted.
Nic Sanders, whose house will border the proposed drive through if approved by the council, can’t fathom the need for another service station, let alone one that will have some services open 24/7.
“It will have a 24/7 drive through which will run one metre away from my fence line,” he said.
“A service station is a service station, if it happens it happens but the 24 hours, seven days a week is a little over the top I think for Mount Evelyn.”
Mr Sanders proposed an adjustment, should the plan get approved, to reduce the hours to 5am to 11pm daily.
Peregrine Corporation general manager planning Andrew Caspar said while some elements of the service station will be able to be accessed 24/7, it would only include the fuel supply and convenience retail.
This was decided on because of the distance between major supermarkets or other convenience retailers particularly for shift workers.
“We want people to have access to essential items 24/7,” he said.
Despite the potential of living next door to a service station, Mr Sanders said he was more concerned about the potential safety impact it could have on the 400 school children who attend the primary school.
“There are children that live up there. Everybody in Renouf Court has put in a complaint that they just don’t want it, especially those with kids because those kids will walk straight across the service station driveway or they run or they jump around,” he said.
Carly is one of those parents who has one child at the primary school, one catching the bus to high school from Monbulk Road and one at the kindergarten opposite the school.
Her mother Vicki, who has lived on Renouf Court for 35 years, often walks the grandchildren to school and kinder and home again.
“It’s ridiculous why they would want to put [a service station] there with all the kids walking past,” Vicki said.
Worried about the extra traffic a service station could attract and the potential for dangerous driving, Carly said with a pedestrian school crossing just before the proposed driveway entrance, it seems too risky.
“The traffic is so busy now and it will get worse and if you’re going to have big trucks coming in that don’t stop in time, there was already a crossing man who passed away years ago [of a heart attack] because a truck didn’t stop,” she said.
“The garden supply centre was there for 20 years. It was regular trucks that would go there. They knew of the school, they’d always stop, they’d let you walk.”
Carly said the traffic report conducted by Peregrine Corporation’s consultants was completed in 2020 during lockdown and outside of school hours.
Since meeting with the community on Monday 23 January and having follow up discussions with Yarra Ranges Council, Mr Caspar said Peregrine Corporation has re-engaged its traffic engineers to conduct further assessments during school hours on Monbulk Road.
Despite being near Mount Evelyn Primary School, Mr Caspar said because there are no adjoining boundaries at the frontage of the property, he believes “traffic impacts will be minimised and contained” with “substantial parking” onsite for users of the service station.
“We are comfortable that traffic movements and parking from our site will not impact on the school or on other users of Monbulk Road, and we are getting some more information together that will help demonstrate this,” he said.
The site at 41 Monbulk Road is classified as an industrial three zone, with a permitted use of a service station.
“The zone seeks to allow retail opportunities in appropriate locations. Within an industrial three zone a service station land use is a section one use, which means no planning permit is required provided a buffer distance of 30 metres is met,” Yarra Ranges Council’s Planning, Design and Development director Nathan Islip said.
“Given this buffer distance is not met in the current application, a planning permit is required for a service station.”
Mr Caspar said a lot is taken into consideration when choosing a location, including the availability of a site and suitable zoning.
When electing to build, Mr Caspar said Peregrine Corporation attempts to choose a facility that will benefit the town it is contributing to.
For Mr Sanders, having only moved to Mount Evelyn a year ago after living in the suburbs for many years, the peace and quiet was what attracted him to the area.
“It’s so peaceful. I like the hills because they are quiet, they’re beautiful, they’re fantastic and the people are great,” he said.
“It’s going to change. It might not change hugely initially but it will.
“I’m totally opposed but if it really comes down to the crunch, at least cut it from five to 11. At least do that for the neighbours, for the people, for the area.”
Submissions of objection or support can still be submitted via Yarra Ranges Council by going to www.eplanning.yarraranges.vic.gov.au
