Peregrine takes legal action to fight to build OTR in the east
THE owners of the On The Run chain are headed to court to fight the rejection of plans for a petrol station in the east – and they will face an army of opponents.
- We did it: Kensington Park residents thought they’d won the battle . . .
- . . . After a huge community fight to stop the project
THE owners of the On The Run chain are headed to court to fight the rejection of plans for a petrol station on Kensington Rd – and they will face an army of opponents.
Shahin Entreprises Pty Ltd is appealing the Development Assessment Commission’s (DAC) decision in June to knockback plans for a 24/7 service station at the corner of May Tce. The company, through its lawyers Botten Levinson, is disputing the DAC’s assessment that the $3 million project would create traffic problems.
The Shahin family’s Peregrine Corporation faced opposition from residents and Burnside Council after it lodged plans for the service station in October. The company is set to encounter similar resistance as it attempts to have them approved in the Environment, Resources and Development Court.
The council, the owner of nearby restaurant Hula Hoop, Stephanie Hamra, and five residents and business owners have applied to be part of the case. Defence Housing Australia – which owns a property on May Tce – has also joined the fight, saying the development would render the residence “inadequate and unsuitable”.
In her application to join the case, Mrs Hamra said the station would ruin the amenity of the garden and lawns between her property and the proposed On The Run.
“It would ruin the outlook for our patrons,” Mrs Hamra said. “We also have a wider public interest in that we are very concerned about the impact upon traffic.”
May Tce resident Chris Shakes intended to “follow this to the bitter end”.
“We believe that DAC made the correct decision in the first instance,” Mr Shakes said.
Ombudsman Wayne Lines last month found the State Government’s decision to appoint the DAC to assess the development was based on an “irrelevant consideration”.
In an investigation triggered by a Burnside Council complaint, Mr Lines said the office of the state’s Coordinator General wrongly gave weight to the Shahin’s “portfolio” in determining the station’s “economic significance”.
He also noted “troubling” conversations between the Coordinator General’s department and Peregrine lawyers, which revealed the petrol station giants were encouraged to “review” the project’s original $2.9 million cost. The development was subsequently revised to $3 million, allowing it to be “called-in” by the DAC.