Maccas bites

By Russell Bennett
TECOMA residents are steeling themselves for a new year fight after McDonald’s lodged a VCAT appeal against Yarra Ranges Council’s decision to keep the burger giant out of the hills.
Tecoma Village Action Group (TVAG) vice president and fierce opponent of the Tecoma restaurant proposal David Jewell told the Mail on Friday that McDonald’s announcement of its VCAT appeal was “just lovely timing”.
It came during the holiday period – just two days prior to Christmas Eve.
“It’s nothing more than a deliberate ploy to catch objectors to the proposal off-guard,” he said.
“They could have lodged this in November but they did this because it works against our right to respond.
“Two major parties – Tecoma Primary School and Tecoma Kindergarten – aren’t even back for the year yet.
Mr Jewell said the timing of the McDonald’s decision had rushed objectors into preparing their responses.
But he said he was wary of telling other Tecoma residents about the VCAT proceedings when he found out because he did not want to ruin their Christmases.
“I was depressed enough about the timing,” he said. “I didn’t want to ruin it for everyone else as well.”
But Mr Jewell said the recent developments had only strengthened the resolve of local residents who had fought loudly against the restaurant. And those who objected to Yarra Ranges Council will now have the opportunity to do the same at VCAT.
“We hope of the 1100 original objectors, we have 600-700 at VCAT,” Mr Jewell said.
“We thought this was all settled but this is now like a dark cloud hanging over our heads. (McDonald’s) just won’t listen to the umpire’s decision.”
Objectors to Yarra Ranges Council will receive notification in the mail of McDonald’s decision.
Residents will have just two weeks to respond to VCAT from the date the notification was mailed out.
A McDonald’s spokeswoman said the burger chain was “disappointed” with the shire’s decision to knock back its proposal. “After much consultation with the council and the community, we worked extremely hard to address (their) concerns,” she said.
“We have lodged an appeal with VCAT as we still firmly believe that the proposed restaurant complies with the planning requirements of this location.
“Like any local businessperson, a local McDonald’s franchisee should be given a reasonable opportunity to open their own business and contribute to the community.”
Yarra Ranges councillors unanimously rejected plans for Tecoma McDonald’s at their 11 October meeting.
But a letter revealed that the burger giant threatened to fight the decision before they had even cast their votes, and warned that challenging Maccas would hurt the hills community.
McDonald’s representative Paul Vallay sent councillors a letter on 10 October imploring them to pass plans for the Burwood Highway restaurant.
He said the fast food chain would take the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) if councillors rejected it.
“As you know, significant resources will be expended by council and objectors in contesting the appeal,” Mr Vallay said.
“The objectors to the proposal may raise the necessary funds for this appeal from donations from the community.
“This is disappointing given the many more important community projects that do not have sufficient funds.”