Locals win coffee battle
HIGHTON residents have secured a hard-fought The Castle- style victory against a proposed Bean Squeeze in the area.
Geelong councillors last night knocked back a permit for the drive-through coffee outlet, which wanted to set up on the corner of Barrabool Rd and Montague St.
In an unanimous 8-0 vote, councillors cited impacts on traffic, noise, amenity, neighbourhood character and the adjacent Highton Seniors Community Centre as factors in their decision.
The outcome, initiated by local Cr Ron Nelson, went against the council’s planning officers, who had recommended approving the outlet, subject to 38 conditions.
Mayor Bruce Harwood was among those who expressed concerns the elderly users would have been severely compromised by the outlet.
He also said the Highton Village was well catered for, with eight coffee outlets.
“It is a classic Darryl Kerrigan situation: ‘tell them they’re dreaming’,” he said.
However, Bean Squeeze’s bid — which was originally submitted almost two years ago — is now set to be tested in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Cr Anthony Aitken summed up the council’s strong stance with a direct reference to the next battleground. “Hopefully VCAT can actually reject it as well,” he said.
Highton resident Jack Green, who helped lead the public campaign, said the community was “ecstatic” with the result.
“We’re happy as Larry. There’s been a lot of work,” he said. “We were confident that the council would support (us), but the only reason we were confident is because we know there are really strong planning arguments against this.
“Certainly we felt right from the start that this was an inappropriate location.”
Mr Green said he was also optimistic that the state planning tribunal would find in the residents’ favour.
“We believed this was a bigger hurdle for us than VCAT would have been.”
Opponents who presented during the hearing last night included Bike Safe Geelong president Garry Laver and Geelong Environment Council president Joan Lindros.
They were among almost 150 official objectors to the development.
More than 30 of those were members of the senior citizens centre, which operates from an adjacent community hub.