Store takes stock

By Tania Martin
SUPERMARKETgiant Woolworths has been sent packing after Mt Evelyn residents brought a halt to its plans to build a new store in their town.
A spokesman for the multi-national conglomerate said the supermarket chain was currently reviewing a VCAT decision which has stopped the development.
Last Wednesday VCAT handed down its verdict to uphold a Shire of Yarra Ranges ruling to refuse a proposed Safeway supermarket on the corner of Station Street and Snowball Avenue.
Townspeople are labelling the victory as an historic win.
It follows a six-year conflict to save the town from the proposed supermarket.
It all started in 2003 when the land on the corner of Snowball Avenue and Station Street was rezoned from residential to business.
However, the residents lodged no objections at the time because the original proposal was for a doctor’s surgery and speciality shops.
After several years passed and the doctor’s surgery failed to eventuate, rumours of a proposed supermarket led residents to dig in and prepare for a fight.
They have been fighting ever since and were prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court to stop the development.
However, VCAT has ruled in favour of the residents, saying that the development was not consistent with the shire’s planning scheme.
It also found that the supermarket proposal was an over-development of the area and that it would have a detrimental impact on nearby residents.
VCAT member Chris Harty in his report said that the proposal would also introduce undesirable heavy traffic into the area.
He said that this would result in the significant loss of amenity and lead to long-term infrastructure problems.
The council’s arguments that the proposal was ill conceived and a massive overdevelopment of the site were supported by the tribunal’s finding.
Mt Evelyn Environment Protection Progress Association (MEEPPA) president Franc Smith said that the people of Mt Evelyn had won the impossible – the right to send supermarket giant Woolworths packing.
He said for many, it was hard to believe that they had actually won.
Mr Smith said the victory was made possible by all the dedicated community people who struggled through the very long and hard battle at VCAT.
“This is a historic day for Mt Evelyn,” he said.
Mayor and anti-supermarket campaigner Tim Heenan said the decision was fantastic news.
Cr Heenan said that VCAT’s decision highlighted the fact that the views of local communities must be taken into account.
Mr Smith said Mt Evelyn was not part of metropolitan Melbourne which is why so many fought the proposal.
“This place does not need metropolitan style transplanted buildings which look more like a freeway noise abatement wall than shops,” he said.
“We simply did not want an aircraft carrier in our fishing village.”
Cr Heenan said there was no doubt that if the development had gone ahead it would have had a dramatic and negative impact on the character of the town.
“The community has spoken loud and clear when it said time and time again “No way Safeway,” Cr Heenan said.