Pruned plan picked

By Casey Neill
ANGRY Monbulk residents have accepted a Yarra Ranges Council compromise on a contentious shed application.
The Mail last month reported, in Shadow on Shed, the objectors believed a nursery development at 172 Old Emerald Road would turn the town into an urbanised city.
They said a proposed eight metre high, 75.5m long and 25m wide “factory” would be “a blight on the Dandenongs’ landscape”.
Yarra Ranges councillors last Tuesday 24 August approved a planning application for the site.
But in a bid to alleviate residents’ concerns, they ordered developer Koomen’s Flowers to build the packing shed in the north corner of the property – closer to Old Emerald Road – rather than the south side, near Seamer Road.
They also ordered existing access to the site from Old Emerald Road be retained.
The shed will house farming and processing equipment for an automated system to produce cut flowers.
The development will also include ‘igloo’ hot-houses and a small dwelling for a caretaker, similar to those housed on the site previously.
The now-vacant site is located in the Silvan Agricultural Area. Surrounding properties include fruit orchards, strawberry farms, vineyards and flower growing.
Lyster Ward councillor Samantha Dunn said the council had to balance residential amenity and support for the agricultural industry.
“I think re-siting the shed actually achieves an outcome that would be workable for the applicant and acceptable for the residents,” she said.
Cr Dunn said the shed’s scale was the biggest concern for residents.
“It is an enormous factory,” she said.
“I think it’s important that we reserve the amenity of the residents in the area. Yes, they do live in an agricultural area, yes they are in the middle of farming, but they deserve a degree of amenity.”
Objector Robert Stephen said residents did not want the building approved at all.
“However, this alternative is something that the majority are willing to accept,” he said.
“We don’t wish to stop the flower industry.”
The council received six objections to the application, detailing concerns about the shed’s “visual bulk”, noise and pollution, hours of operation and truck movements.
Mr Stephen said the shed would not only be unsightly but would cast shadows over neighbouring properties.
On behalf of the applicant, JCA Land Consultants town planner Steve Kaylock told the council meeting the shed would not shade neighbouring properties.
“It’s just simply impossible to happen,” he said.
“We have a horticultural structure that is barely 3 per cent larger than the structures that previously existed on this land.”
The Mail contacted Koomen’s Flowers representative Paul Koomen but he declined to comment on the decision.