A 24 hour service station accompanied by two drive-through take away outlets and 24 illuminated signs could soon be lighting up the Bass Highway near Ulverstone.
Plans are underway for the mega development on a vacant lot at South Road, West Ulverstone, just off the roundabout and adjacent to the Bass Highway.
The Central Coast Council will on Monday night consider a proposal by determine whether or not it can begin the process of rezoning the 1.67 hectare block of land from low density residential to local business, as well as a related development application for a service station, two food restaurants and illuminated signs.
That would include:
- Eight double-sided fuel bowsers
- Three diesel bowsers and a canopy for trucks
- Three electric car charging stations
- A 202 square metre convenience store
- Two drive-through take-away food outlets operating from 6am to 11 pm
- Two loading bays
- 54 car spaces
- Six B-double truck spaces
- Two bus/caravan spaces
- Eight bicycle parking spaces
- 24 illuminated signs, including a 20 metre high, four metre wide pylon sign next to the highway
Planning officers have recommended the councillors begin the rezoning process, which would involve public advertising.
The development’s proponents, Tasmanian Keystone Developments Pty Ltd, said they believed the proposal would provide “social and economic benefit for the municipal area and service the wider region”.
The Department of State Growth has advised it will not permit the developers to remove any of the native vegetation along the western and southern ends of the site.
Council planning staff have assessed the application as not complying with the requirements of its general location due to its lengthy hours of operation (24 hours for the service station, 17 hours for the food outlets), its bright external lighting/signage operating 24 hours a day, and a 20 metre pylon sign which would be more than double the allowable height.
However, they have advised the councillors to approve a draft permit on condition that the signs not exceed nine metres, that they are not all illuminated for 24 hours a day, and that a noise fence is erected, among other things.
They said the proposal would provide a service not only to highway travellers, but to the Ulverstone population.
Extracted from The Advocate