This won’t wash

By Kath Gannaway
RESIDENTS of Healesville’s East End residential areas have come out in force against a proposal to build a two-storey carwash on their doorstep.
Developer Eagle Crest Pty Ltd is seeking a planning permit from Yarra Ranges Council to build the car wash on the corner of St Leonard’s Road and Walker Lane.
The developer told the Mail he owned all three parcels of land between the end of the existing shops and Walker’s Lane and said a car wash was not only an allowable operation under the current Business One zoning, but was a commercially viable and low-impact option for the site.
The development includes four manual car wash bays, a laser car wash, four vacuum bays, two dog wash bays, parking for 10 cars and staff parking. The business would operate 24 hours a day, every day.
About 30 residents met last week and have vowed to fight the application saying it will be detrimental to the area, will create just one part-time job, and with two car washes in the town is not needed.
The application has also raised sour memories for local residents who protested in August last year when the developer invoked the 10-30 rule and cut down a 90-year-old oak tree on one of the blocks, claiming it was a fire hazard to the house next door. He now owns the house, which under the car wash plan will be demolished.
Matt and Sue Schwab’s property shares a boundary with the site and will have the vacuum machines on their side fence.
“We are all for growth and careful development of our community but there is nothing too careful about the development of a car wash, particularly in a residential area such as this.
“This is the sort of thing that should be in an industrial estate, not in a residential area,” Mr Schwab said.
Mrs Schwab said there were now many young families in the area and that traffic use down Walker’s Lane was already becoming an issue, with the lane being used as a shortcut since the traffic lights were installed on Maroondah Highway and St Leonard’s Road intersection.
“The traffic has increased massively and it will only increase more with this proposal,” she said.
Resident Robyn Johnston said 31 new houses had been built in nearby Holland Street and 81 new houses and units had been built in the area in the last two years.
She said the 24/7 operation, luminous neon lights and the impact of additional traffic on the area would have a devastating effect.
Only eight property owners were advised by Yarra Ranges Council of the planning application and many others were angry that they were not included in a decision they say affects not only them but the whole of Healesville.
“I feel cheated. The whole town should have something to say on something like this,” resident Gelda Lawrence said.
Nicole Street says as a resident of Holland Street, she was also left out of the loop.
“This is going to have a massive impact and it’s a community issue,” she said.
“We expected some kind of business to go there, shop fronts perhaps, but the noise and spray, the beeping, lights 24 hours a day, with kids all around here is just not on,” she said.
The developer says he is willing to talk with residents but that at the end of the day a car wash is a valid use and has challenged residents to come up with a better viable option.
Issuing a warning that “people need to be careful what they wish for”, he said there was not a great demand for more shops and that the car wash was a minimal-bulk option.
“Residents have to ask themselves, do they want to see a car wash there or something else far more commercial?” he said.
“If the car wash didn’t proceed, who is to say a fast-food chain would not go there?”
He said it was left-wing thinking to say a car wash would create minimal employment and added the East End’s retail shops would benefit from people using the car wash.
Meanwhile Yarra Ranges Council advised the Mail on Monday that it would re-advertise after discovering a number of errors with the application.
Communications officer Tracey Varley said the number of notifications would be increased to 17 but said there was no requirement for the application to be advertised in the media.
She said the Business One zoning required a permit for both use and development which allowed for hours of operation and illuminated signage to be taken into consideration.
The application can be viewed at Healesville Community Link and the closing date for submissions has been extended by 14 days from Monday, 18 July.