By Mikayla van Loon
“Disappointed but not unexpected” was how the main objector to a service station proposal for Mount Evelyn described a recent state tribunal decision to approve the build.
The plans for 41 Monbulk Road were refused by Yarra Ranges councillors in March last year but were overturned by Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) members Alison Slattery and Phil West on 29 January.
It will now see a service station, including car wash, dog wash, and convenience shop with drive through built at the former garden centre site, with conditions placed on the permit to be fulfilled by landowner Peregrine Corporation.
Monbulk Road resident Nic Sanders, who led the 194 objectors and community petition last year and was a key respondent in the VCAT hearing, opposed the application because of the proximity to Mount Evelyn Primary School and the 24/7 operating hours of the servo.
“The community does not want this servo at this location next to our primary school on Monbulk Road,” he told Star Mail in March 2024.
Mr Sanders’ objection was founded in the possible health risks to students from petrol vapour, the increased traffic and therefore, risk to students, parents and teachers at peak times, the noise and site impacts on other properties, including his own.
Mount Evelyn Primary School assistant principal Helen Basham also raised similar concerns in her submission to VCAT.
Most notably the location of the school’s sensory play area which would line the boundary of the fuel bowsers.
“Having a petrol station right next to the school will be unsightly and ruin the natural look of the space too. It will generate increased noise on a daily basis and will totally change the feel and usage of the outdoor learning/nature play space we have developed for our students,” she said in her submission.
“Car washing, door slamming, delivery trucks, moving vehicles, cars and trucks being started, noise from the car wash – vacuuming and hosing cars, dogs barking at the dog wash and increasing in lighting will all create constant distractions.
“It will compromise student learning in the outdoor learning space, the classrooms beside the space and students using the space during play times and at other times throughout the day.”
Ms Slattery and Mr West said in the report that “the proposal must meet the requirements of the Environment Protection Regulations” which the applicant has said would occur through the installation of a 2.6 metre high noise barrier, with other barriers of different heights on adjacent boundaries.
“The permit conditions require that the noise levels from the proposed facility be measured for compliance with the requirements of the EP Regulations, soon after the facility starts operating.”
In terms of the environmental and health impacts of a petrol station being in such close range to a school, the EPA itself “had no objection to the proposed service station development and did not request specific conditions regarding air emissions in a planning permit”.
Given the intent of the applicant to install vapour recovery equipment, despite not being a requirement in Victoria, Ms Slattery and Mr West were “satisfied” the “service station will not result in air emissions or odours that are at a level contrary to the requirements” in regulations.
Ms Basham also raised concerns about the increased traffic movement in an already congested and “chaotic” area, especially at school pick-up and drop-off time, with students walking past the service station.
The report noted several investigations of the traffic movements around 41 Monbulk Road, prepared by both Traffix Group for the applicant and SALT traffic engineer Jarrod Wicks on behalf of Mr Sanders.
It was also identified that “The Department of Transport indicated that it had no objection to the approval of the service station subject to the construction of left and right turn lanes into the site from Monbulk Road, approval of a temporary bus stop during the construction of the turning lanes on Monbulk Road, and the Department’s approval of the final design plans for the site and approaches to the site”.
According to a Traffix Group’s analysis of the “evening peak” between 4pm and 5pm, 957 vehicles were seen on Monbulk Road. Their estimated number of vehicles using the service station was 140, equating to 70 vehicles in and 70 vehicles out.
“Traffix Group concluded that the operation of the service station will not have a detrimental impact on the operation Monbulk Road,” the report reads.
Ms Slattery and Mr West also looked at the matter of what was allowed under the Industrial 3 Zone, which also contained a bushfire management and environmental significance overlay.
Yarra Ranges Council submitted that “proposed use does not strike an appropriate balance” between the residential and the school.
The VCAT members were “satisfied that the use of the site for a service station with retail component and ancillary services is appropriate in this location”.
In granting the permit, Ms Slattery and Mr West imposed conditions that plans must include the location of a 10,000 litre static water tank and a 5000 litre rainwater tank; noise barriers; a minimum of 85 per cent indigenous plant species in the plan schedule; a minimum two canopy trees; and signage must be clearly visible “directing patrons to consider neighbours and leave the premises as quietly as possible”.
While the petrol station, control building, convenience shop, automatic car wash, and dog wash may operate 24 hours, seven days a week, time restraints have been placed on certain aspects.
The drive through can operate between 6am and 10pm, Monday to Sunday; the manual car wash 7am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday; vacuums 7am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday; waste collection 7am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday; and fuel deliveries 7am to 7pm, Monday to Sunday.
Conceding the decision, Mr Sanders said he would now prepare for the impacts of the service station at his property.
“That’s it now, we start organising our property to reduce any noise and sight views over the fence,” he said.
