Hot move for curry house

By EMMA SUN
POPULAR Indian restaurant Saffron Cottage is staying in Tecoma, after submitting three permit applications to Yarra Ranges Council.
Following last Tuesday night’s council meeting, councillors decided to keep the restaurant in town and granted it a permit to build on 1525 Burwood Highway, despite objections from neighbours of the land.
However objectors said they were dissatisfied by the decision and are now consider other options, including possibly taking the case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Judy Wolff, who lives next to the proposed site, spoke at the meeting about her concerns about Saffron Cottage trading beside her home.
While she commended the owners for the architectural redesign from the first application, she said she was still concerned about the lack of parking spaces which would mean cars would be parked on the road and across from her driveway.
“I think it’s the wrong building for that piece of land – there’s so much going on on this 100-metre strip, there’s a petrol station, two bus stops, double lanes and a lane merge and it’s just before a dangerous dog-leg intersection,” she said.
“Whilst I sympathise with a popular restaurant losing its lease, the four objectors believe that any restaurant on this site is simply asking too much of a domestic block in such a complex highway situation.”
But Lyster Ward councillor Samantha Dunn moved an alternative motion to grant the permit, along with a list of 32 conditions that Saffron Cottage must follow, which included restricting patron numbers to 38 and keeping sound and light outside the property to a minimal.
Billanook Ward councillor Tim Heenan said he could see a passion from the owners of the restaurant to stay and continue trading.
“I would say that they have a connection with the community, otherwise they would not think their business was good enough to move it again,” he said.
“Small businesses are doing it really hard at the moment and ones connected with food in the area can be a dime in a dozen.”
Saffron Cottage owner Nikky Salgadoe said she was over the moon about the approval and looked forward to starting construction as soon as possible to have the restaurant ready in about a year’s time.
“We didn’t expect to win, we were just so happy because we didn’t want to leave Tecoma,” she said.
“I think the conditions are pretty reasonable because the councillors went out of the way to keep us in Tecoma so I think it was a very good compromise.
“I think they made a very good decision and I’m very, very happy with the councillors’ support.”
Ms Wolff said she was shocked the council allowed the owners to build, especially after rejecting the restaurant twice previously.
“I actually felt really very confident after having read the very thoroughly researched document case by the planning department who refused the permit,” she said.
“I thought the decision would be obvious so I’m shocked and gutted.”