DEBATE is continuing to rage over a potential $9.5 million development on Great Eastern Highway in Ascot.
The proposal for 268 to 282 Great Eastern Highway between Epsom Avenue and Moreing Street is still in limbo while the applicant works to satisfy conditions for a proposed service station, medical centre, pharmacy, office, six fast food/takeaway outlets and two showroom development.
At a Metro Central Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) meeting last week, members voted to defer a decision, one of two options suggested by the City of Belmont officer.
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READ NOWThe first recommendation was to refuse the application outright, with reasons including a detrimental impact on the amenity of nearby residential properties and the service station not being of a high standard of architectural design. The two Belmont Council representatives voted to refuse the application but were outvoted by the other three JDAP members.
JDAP presiding member Charles Johnson said the next step was in the applicant’s hands,
“The decision to defer the application revolved around the fact that the applicant had provided late information in regard to concerns about the noise impact of the development,” he said.
“Without that sort of technical advice, it’s difficult for us to make a decision.”
The City now has to complete a revised Responsible Authority Report by September 22 after considering a new acoustic assessment and other information from the developer.
Mother of three Janine Thompson has lived on Moreing Street for five years and is concerned a service station so close by poses a potential health risk.
“Two of our boys have epilepsy; if anything around us is going to cause any type of further impact to a disorder, it’s really detrimental to us. For us, that’s the number one thing: health,” she said.
The Ascot mother also spoke at the meeting about noise, light and traffic concerns, with trucks already double-parked outside the front of her house.
Wiseline Investment’s John Ferguson is about to begin construction on 10 townhouses on Moreing Street, next to the proposed sevice station development, which were approved in June 2016.
“We got ours approved on the basis that we believed it was a soft buffer between the stables and commercial (business) at the front. I think the service station is the biggest impact, it’s the most objectionable use on the site,” Mr Ferguson said.
A representative of the developers declined to comment after the JDAP meeting. The developer attended a directions hearing on Friday at the State Administrative Tribunal to determine whether to defer the directions hearing, seek further mediation or take the case to a formal SAT hearing.
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