Beef patties, special sauce... this Cowes' project's got the lot!

THE proposal to build a McDonald’s ‘convenience restaurant’ in Cowes is shaping up as the ‘Big Mac’ of all planning applications to come before the Bass Coast Shire Council.

Open for community submission since April this year, but reaching something of a crescendo in recent weeks ahead of a decision by the Bass Coast Shire Council as early as next month, the application for a 50-seat, 24/7 restaurant has already attracted 83 submissions – 81 of them registered as objections.

The application calls for the development and use of a Convenience Restaurant on a 4165 square metre site located at 157 Thompson Avenue and 190-194 Settlement Road, Cowes.

Part of the site, facing Thompson Avenue, is zoned Commercial 1, and used by a Mobil Service Station and 7-Eleven outlet. The adjoining site, facing Settlement Road, is zoned General Residential Zone Schedule 1.

It is proposed that the petrol station remain but that an existing shed be demolished and a free standing fuel pump be removed to facilitate the creation of a new easement across the land at No. 157 Thompson Avenue, in favour of land at 190-194 Settlement Road, for a driveway into the new McDonalds Restaurant.

Vehicle access to and from the site will be via Settlement Road and Thompson Avenue, through a new easement associated with the service station.

There will be 16 on-site car spaces provided and seven spaces for bicycles in bike hoops outside the restaurant.

The potential sticking point, of locating the new restaurant on General Residential Zone land has been extensively addressed in the application, including as follows:

• We note that convenience restaurants, developed on sites in residential zones, usually abutting main roads and / or busy intersections, are not uncommon. The General Residential Zone control allows the use and development for the purpose of a convenience restaurant only if the land adjoins or has access to a road in a Transport Zone 2 or a Transport Zone 3. The ‘Subject Site’ is provided with direct access to the Transport Zone 2 road, Thompson Avenue, ensuring the conditional requirement of the GRZ is met.

Some of the reasons for objection include:

• Ruin the earning potential of local hospitality businesses who are already doing it tough. McDonalds will also attract a dirty environment unaligned with the clean coastal culture Cowes is famous for.
• What a joke. What's the benefit, really? It's not bringing in more visitors, so it's just taking money out of the local economy. It does not create jobs, it just distributes them away from local shops that would have employed them anyway. Run a local vote and an open council meeting to see what the actual community thinks, not the bots on Facebook.
• I am objecting against the McDonalds restaurant being built on said site in Cowes. This is an extremely busy roundabout most days all day, then you have a school adjacent to this location. I also believe it has no place in such a nature park (our island). It takes away from our serenity from the every-day beauty of our world renowned natural, beautiful island.
• Working on Phillip Island, protecting the natural landscape, we already have an intake of rubbish dumped in reserve car parks and beaches. Most of the time, fast-food chains from off the island contribute to this. Please reconsider what you are doing to an ecotourism destination.

Submissions in support include

• I believe this to be a positive development for the town, creating much needed employment and diversity. I view this proposal as a positive flow of development on the Island.
• Will provide jobs for young kids, somewhere to get coffee after 2pm, somewhere to stop after 8pm when everything else has closed. The site location is fine and are looking forward to it.”

What Cr Tessari said

So, how will the nine councillors who make the decision vote? And are they bound by the planning rules when making their decision? We asked the Bass Coast Mayor Cr Brett Tessari.

“Certainly, the vocal response we are hearing from the Island at the moment is overwhelmingly against the proposal,” said Cr Tessari.

“But there has been some underlying support for it as well from people who either want a McDonalds in Cowes or don’t have a problem with it. Others say it will provide employment or that fears have been overstated,” he said.

“Councillors can make up their own minds when it comes before council and vote the way they want but the planning department has to go by the rules.

“If it passes the planning test but we vote it down, you’re potentially going to have problems at VCAT.

“The other way you can go is try to get the best possible outcome for the community by negotiation and by the conditions you put on the permit, things like not being open 24/7, closing before 12 midnight, things like that,” he said.

In summary, it has been submitted by the applicant, McDonald’s Australia Limited that the proposal should be supported for the following reasons:

• It is consistent with the relevant strategic directions of State and Local Policies set out in the Bass Coast Planning Scheme;
• The convenience restaurant use is appropriate having regard to the site’s location partially within and abutting the Cowes Activity Centre, in a Commercial 1 and General Residential Zone which benefits from access to a Transport Zone 2 road;
• The proposed buildings and works and signage represent an appropriate outcome for the site having regard to the zoning and physical context;
• The proposal will not have unreasonable amenity impacts on surrounding properties; and
• Traffic, car parking and access for service/delivery vehicles is well considered and designed to minimise disruption to the local road network.

General sentiment

The general sentiment from Phillip Island, according to a longtime local resident, who asked to remain anonymous, is that many feel the arrival of McDonalds was inevitable after the first fast-food franchise, Subway, opened in 2011.

“The opening of McDonalds at Bass gave Phillip Island a bit of a reprieve but once one fast-food franchise opened here, there was always the chance the others would follow.

“If you look at the recent opposition to McDonalds opening in places like Northcote and Castlemaine, they’ve had hundreds and even thousands of people against, so 80 or 100 people saying they’re against it isn’t many.

“And 60 of those objections were received before details of the application were even lodged with council so you can pretty much dismiss them as ideological, against the idea of McDonalds, not on planning grounds.

“You can’t object because you don’t like the concept.

“If they do object on traffic grounds, that this part of the main street is already too busy, and it will impact traffic flow or something like that, that’s different.

“The councillors might vote against it for popular reasons, but VCAT will see through that. If they do vote against it, they’ll have to go to VCAT to defend their decision.

“Most local people couldn’t give a toss one way or the other. There’s a McDonalds at Wonthaggi, Bass and Caldermeade. Big deal.

“If you don’t like it, don’t go.

“The issue for kids at the primary school is an issue for the parents. If they don’t want them to eat the food, it’s up to them.

“Other kids will just use it as a meeting place, not necessarily for the food, like they do in Wonthaggi.

“Cowes has a resident population and attracts enough visitors to support a McDonalds now. Most people don’t have an issue with it.”

For more information go to the Bass Coast Shire Council's website HERE

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