Plan in the bag

By Melissa Donchi
A MAJOR supermarket is set to move into Yarra Glen.
The Shire of Yarra Ranges approved the planning application last week after many months of negotiations between the developer and residents.
Developer Chris O’Connor said as soon as the planning process was finished he would put out a tender to gauge the interest from major supermarkets.
“We are very confident that we will get a high response to this development,” Mr O’Connor said.
“It’s a well sought after site.”
It was good news for the Yarra Glen Chamber of Commerce (YGCC) which strongly supported the proposal.
Vice president Chris Lamacraft said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Yarra Glen can’t afford to let this opportunity slip away,” Mr Lamacraft said.
“This development is going to bring enormous business and environmental benefits to the town.”
Norm Cronin who owns the Yarra Valley Antique Centre and said the objectors would thank them later.
“If you look back in five years’ time people will come to see our vision – it’s just unfortunate that it has taken four years to get to this point,” he said.
Mr O’Connor said it had been a very long process but that the negotiations with the community have improved the project.
“The community wanted the building the reflect the area and incorporate the views of the Yarra Valley into the design,” Mr O’Connor said.
“You’re not going to look at this building and think it’s a supermarket.”
The objectors were outnumbered but did not go unnoticed at the council meeting with Grand Hotel owner and life long resident of Yarra Glen John Lithgow describing councillor Janette McRae’s vote of no confidence as a betrayal.
“It’s a shame Janette McRae was unable to see the bigger picture,” Mr Lithgow said.
But it’s the shopping centre size that has got people fired up with one objector describing the shopping complex as a ‘monolith.’
Ian Whitford from the Save Our Rural Town group described the proposal as completely out of character for what he described as a small rural town.
“This monolith and all it brings with it will radically change the chosen and desired lifestyle of established residents and destroy the very fabric of a grass roots, green wedge community,” Mr Whitford said.
Objector Veronica Holland said that while the group wouldn’t take the matter any further she hoped they would make the development less intrusive.
“It is a pity because it’s a lost opportunity for a really good development,” Ms Holland said. “While there are aspects which are good, the building site is too massive.”
Both Ms Holland and Mr Whitford compared the proposal to a similar one made in Mt Evelyn which was eventually rejected by the council as ‘unsuitable’ and ‘completely flawed.’
But landscape consultant Bill Molyneux said the two proposals had little in common.
“The Mt Evelyn supermarket was based in a shopping centre surrounded by other shops and brought no environmental benefits to the town,” Mr Molyneux said.
“The development in Yarra Glen will be surrounded by 22 acres of wetland and will promote local vegetation and wildlife.”
Mr Molyneux, who assisted the Board of Works on the shape and form of parkland and wetlands at Lillydale Lake 18 years ago, said he would not have supported the proposal if it didn’t have the environmental benefits.
“I based this wetlands proposal on the design of my own property which has dramatically increased bird species and improved the quality of the land,” Mr Molyneux said.
“If this was just another shopping centre with a garden around it I would not have supported it.”