Warehouse warning

By Kath Gannaway
HEALESVILLE residents are being urged to look at plans for a 2.5 hectare (6.3 acre) warehouse then visualise the effect it would have on the entrance to the town.
FNQ Developments is seeking planning approval from the Shire of Yarra Ranges to build the warehouse on the former Healesville Sawmill site on the corner of Maroondah Highway and Heritage Lane.
Healesville TownWatch president Shann O’Grady told the Mail last week she feared the community was unaware of the enormity of the building.
She said the response from the many people who have approached TownWatch after viewing the plans at the shire’s service centre in Healesville had been disbelief and incomprehension.
“Most could not understand the poor quality plans and elevations provided, were unable to fully understand the dimensions and mass of the proposed building and did not see its relationship to site or general location,” she said.
She advised interested residents to go to plan TP2, ignore the zig-zagging contour lines and focus on the softly shaded outline which is the border of the proposed warehouse.
Site computations show the site area at 3.3 hectares (8.338 acres) and the total floor area at 2.5 hectares (6.33 acres).
“We are talking six and one-third acres of covered building!,” Ms O’Grady said. She said plan TP4 gave an impression that the car park area was the warehouse.
“Not so,” she said.
“Look at the dotted line, the same line as the contour line, set back from Maroondah Highway. It says ‘building line over’. This is the boundary of the warehouse.
“These are not suitable plans to have on display for the public.”
The group, which advocates for the preservation of the town’s important rural and scenic qualities, joins Healesville Chamber of Commerce and nearby residents in calling on the shire to reject the planning application.
The TownWatch submission says the development fails to take into account important aspects of the shire’s planning policy.
“In many cases it is the antithesis of what the community expects from planning decisions in the township,” it says.
Among concerns about the visual impact and the poor quality of the application are issues of sustainability and the exact use of the building which are not addressed in FNQ’s application.
“For a development with such potentially detrimental impacts on an attractive rural township, it would be negligent for a planning department to give approval without such vital information,” the submission states.
Submissions can be made to the Shire of Yarra Ranges up until the matter goes before council.