Electric cars fuel surge in demand for servo sites in Logan

Electric cars were an election issue last week. But in southeast Queensland, they have been driving a massive surge in demand for service stations.

THE push to electric cars has sparked a surge in demand for service station land across the southeast in the past year as developers snap up sites for car charging bays.

In top spot for demand is Logan, halfway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and where interest for electric car facilities is peaking as the state’s electric superhighway takes off.

There are four main state-owned fast-charging bays in the southeast corner but only one between Brisbane and the Gold Coast at Helensvale. A further eight are planned as part of private developments.

The 17 state government charging sites along the Queensland coast.

● SERVOS PUMP VALUATIONS UP 11%

● SERVO AT ZOO CORNER

● TRADING POST SITE SERVO APPLICATION

Demand for service station sites helped pump up land valuations in Logan by 11 per cent this year, according to last month’s Valuer-General report for the city.

More than 18 applications for service stations were made in Logan in the past year with corner blocks and main roads the most popular spots.

Outspoken Logan City councillor Darren Power blamed part of the “servo surge” on land banking by real estate developers.

He told a Logan City Council committee last week that service station approvals were being granted using “flawed and arbitrary” criteria based on whether the area had an immediate economic need for a new servo.

“Developers are putting in applications that are getting approved and then doing nothing with the site,” he said.

“Because of rules around competition, that effectively means nobody else can build another service station in the area.

“Developers are land banking to cut out the competition, which ultimately means residents miss out.”

He said the practice of land banking was not just used by service stations to choke competition in Logan.

Large businesses and retail precincts, such as the Hyperdome, had development approvals which were never acted on.

Councillor Darren Power at a Loganholme site near the Hyperdome which remains vacant after 20 years.

In a break with previous decisions, Logan City Council last week tentatively refused an application to allow a service station at Atlantic Dve, less than 200m to the M1 exit at Loganholme.

It is one of three sites within a 2km radius of the Pacific Motorway exit where applications for service stations have been lodged in the past year.

Cr Power said Atlantic Dve was the “more logical site” as it was near the highway and not in a residential area.

In April last year, approval was granted to allow a service station to be built on a current residential block, at the corner of Beenleigh Redland Bay and California Creek Rd.

Cr Darren Power at the site which has received approval at the corner of Beenleigh Redland Bay Rd and California Creek Rd, which is less than 1.5km from two other sites.

Approval was granted for the site, known for its menagerie of life-size statues of African animals including giraffes, despite 95 submissions, mostly against the development.

A decision was still pending on the historic Trading Post site, opposite the Atlantic Dve land.

Logan City council officers said all three sites were similar but the economic need was greater for the California Creek Rd site.

A charging bay at Hamilton, Brisbane, which is part of the state government’s Electric Superhighway.

Electric cars and charging sites in Logan were discussed after the federal election was announced last week, with federal Labor promising to aim for half of all new cars to be electric by 2030.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten charges an electric car.

According to figures from the government’s Renewable Energy Agency ARENA, electric cars will account for 29 per cent of new sales by 2030.

There were 2284 electric vehicle sales in 2017, up 67 per cent from the previous year.