By Dongyun Kwon
A Gruyere resident raised concerns about a proposed winery development at 23 Maddens Lane, Gruyere during the council meeting.
Jacqui Patterson attended the meeting on Tuesday 10 December and expressed her concerns regarding the issue to the Yarra Ranges councillors.
Ms Patterson said the major concern she had was the lack of details regarding the proposed winery operations located near her house.
“There’s no information as to what the additional winery operational hours would be, outside of the proposed cellar door hours. This would be in addition to the cellar door opening hours (which will cause) additional noise, lighting, dust, pollution, forklifts, trucks, deliveries all along an unsealed gravel driveway that runs alongside, within metres of our home,” she said.
“There’s no safety report to demonstrate how the cellar door would be accessed via the existing and acute ramp that goes down to an underground cellar, which has a retractable door that you have to retract in order to be able to get machinery or a forklift down under the actual building.
“There’s no reference to the number of employees and staff parking. Is this in addition to the visitor parking that’s in the submission and the owner’s parking, who lives there? It also has a B and B (bed and breakfast) opportunity which would also introduce more cars onto the site.”
Ms Patterson also claimed she doubted if it fits the definition of winery.
“In this proposed winery, it stated that they’re not going to make wine on site. To meet the definition of a winery, they’ll grow grapes, bottle the wine and store the barrels on the property, so (it’s) not a full winery offering,” she said.
“I wanted to flag there’s no information in the application to explain how this proposed hobby winery will operate as a new use in an existing space.
“There’s no information to demonstrate if the space is fit for purpose that meets today’s standard of key winery activity.”
After the objector’s five-minute submission, the supporter of the planning permit application Mandy Edwards explained the details about the application.
Although the site was not operational for many years, Ms Edwards said the building on site was purposely built as a cellar door and winery, thus the proposed usefully accords with the definition of winery.
“The primary use of the land remains committed to agriculture, namely, viticulture. There are already 1.2 hectares of vines on-site and a further half hectares of vines, and the application intends to plant an amount after the cellar door is operational and the funds permit,” she said.
“The plans from 1980 with the Shire of Lilydale stamp show a public tasting room and cellar door. The proposed works for this building are minimal with the intent of enhancing visitor experience for the new winery.
“The application seeks to reinvigorate the former use under the existing registered name.”
Ms Edwards said they have worked closely with the planning officer, and the applicant has been agreeable to all alterations.
“The cellar door is small scale. It’s limited to 20 patrons at any one time, and the conditioned operating hours of 10am to 5pm Thursday to Sunday are extremely modest,” she said.
“The small second dwelling is also wholly in accordance with policy requirements.
“The State Government commentary around this use is that it gives families more housing choices, boosts housing supply and that anyone can live in or rent out a small second home.
“There are no negative environmental impacts as a result of the proposal, the land capability assessment demonstrating that wastewater can be retained on site.”
After submissions from both sides, Chirnside Ward councillor Richard Higgins asked a question regarding the definition of the winery and cellar door and whether it’s going to be a problem.
Yarra Ranges Council planning and building manager Amanda Kern answered the question.
“This proposal does not establish a new interpretation or application of the use of a winery as a defined use in the planning scheme, and officers have established this is a winery in accordance with the Yarra Ranges planning scheme,” she said.
Instead of being in favour of one side, Ryrie Ward councillor Fiona McAllister proposed the alternate motion with additional permit conditions, which accepted opinions from the both sides.
Four conditions proposed by Cr McAllister are as follows;
At all times, all vehicles associated with the winery use of the land must enter and exit the site in a forward direction.
Without the prior consent of the responsible authority, all commercial vehicles associated with the winery use must not exceed Austroads 8.8m MRV (Medium Rigid Vehicle).
All commercial vehicle delivery associated with the winery use of the land must only occur after 7am and outside the operating hours of cellar door unless with the prior written consent of the responsible authority.
All designated cellar door car parking spaces must be unoccupied at any time that commercial deliveries are occurring unless with the prior written consent of the responsible authority.
The alternate motion with four conditions was carried unanimously.
