Decision in store

By Casey Neill
TECOMA residents will soon learn the fate of a controversial $7 million supermarket proposal following months of uncertainty.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal recently informed objectors it would hear the matter on 7 September.
Developer Freeman Tecoma delayed the hearing when it applied for a stay in proceedings to brief a new legal firm.
Tecoma Village Action Group spokeswoman Anita Dealy welcomed the announcement.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do now,” she said.
Freeman Tecoma last September applied to build a Coles supermarket, specialty store and undercover parking at 1529 Burwood Highway.
The project would see Hippie Haven Music Café and Indian restaurant Saffron Cottage bulldozed.
The businesses are housed in the historic Hazelvale Dairy and original dairy residence.
Protest group Save Tecoma recently incorporated to form Tecoma Village Action Group to protect the town’s character and encourage appropriate development.
“I couldn’t let this one go,” Ms Dealy said.
“I feel so strongly about it.”
Ms Dealy said the group would increase public awareness of the proposal and raise cash for the fight ahead.
The group will hold a sausage sizzle at Foodworks in Upwey on Saturday 25 July.
The money will fund legal representation and an independent traffic survey.
Objectors said the supermarket would increase traffic congestion, which would restrict access to nearby businesses, increase travel time and endanger Tecoma Primary School students crossing the highway.
The group was concerned competition from the supermarket could force nearby Bon Ton Mini-Mart, Upwey’s Foodworks and other local businesses to close and cost jobs.
They said it could set a precent for similar developments in the Dandenongs and questioned the need for a supermarket larger than the Upwey and Belgrave stores put together when there were others just minutes away.
They said the ‘retail shop’ proposed was likely to be a liquor store.
Tecoma Primary School is located across the road and has battled alcohol-related vandalism over recent years.
Objectors also argued the development was out of character for the town.
Ms Dealy said if the project went ahead the community would be stuck with an ugly development.
“It’s sort of like architectural vandalism in a way,” she said.
“Rubbish can be removed. You can’t remove a $7 million big box development when you think ‘gee whiz, that looks damn ugly’.”
Shire of Yarra Ranges councillors unanimously rejected the supermarket proposal at their 10 March meeting because of its design and predicted impact on traffic.
But the council had failed to decide on the permit within the required 60 days because it had been waiting for a VicRoads report and so automatically placing the development’s fate in VCAT’s hands.
The council received 531 objections and 16 petitions opposing the development and just four submissions in support.
More information is available from the group’s website www.tvag.org.au or by calling 0407 536 495.