Healesville McDonald’s: Permit changes refused by Yarra Ranges Council

A bid from McDonald’s to upsize its planned Healesville restaurant has been met with fierce opposition.

The McDonald’s is set to be built at the old sawmill site at 17-25 Maroondah Highway, Healesville.

A bid from McDonald’s to increase the size and change the design of its planned Healesville restaurant has been rejected by Yarra Ranges Council.

Earlier in the year the council received an application to amend a planning permit to allow the development of a Macca’s at 17-25 Maroondah Highway.

The fast food giant already has the right to use the site for a convenience restaurant, but applied to the council to amend details of the planned building.

A permit was issued by the council at the direction of VCAT in 2016, that allows the use and development of the former sawmill site for a hotel, market, restricted retail premises, service station, take away food premises, and convenience restaurant.

McDonald’s was seeking to make changes to the permit, including: increasing the building envelope (inclusive of the outdoor area) from 212.1sq m to 377.68sq m; an extra lane in the drive-through; additional signage; and increasing the building height by 0.5m to a maximum height of 6.09m.

Some residents fear the development is not suited to Healesville, a popular tourist spot, with the council receiving 49 objections to the plan. Picture: Stuart Milligan

But councillors voted to refuse the amendment at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, Urbis planning consultant Bret Fleming said the bespoke McDonald’s building had been specifically designed for the site, and was fully compliant with signage restrictions.

He said 120 jobs would be created within the restaurant, with the overall development at the site to create 250 jobs.

But Yarra Ranges Mayor Fiona McAllister said there had been a “substantial creep” on the conditions agreed too after extensive mediation on the proposal, following the VCAT decision.

Cr McAllister said the restaurant had gone from having a much more complementary design to now resembling “a box”, and the footprint of the development had nearly doubled.

Cr Tim Heenan was also concerned about the increase in the development size.

“Healesville has very important characteristics and certainly the development flies in the face of what we would expect to see coming into (the town),” he said.

Cr Jim Child said if the council rejected the amendment the development would be delayed further through a prolonged VCAT process, denying jobs in the local region.

But Cr McAllister said there was an existing permit for the site and the development could have been built years ago.

“So the decision that we make tonight or not has no bearing on when the development does or does not happen and it could have happened many years ago.”

A McDonald’s Australia spokesperson said:

“We are disappointed with the outcome of last night’s council meeting and are taking the appropriate time required to consider our options.

“The site has previously been approved for use and the planning application included modifications supported by council’s planning department.

“All proposed modifications, including those related to the building, lighting and signage, are in accordance with planning requirements set by council for the site. These will help create a more efficient layout and safer traffic movements for our customers.

“The proposed restaurant will play an active role in the community through providing jobs, economic investment, training and development opportunities for local employees.

“The restaurant will inject over $5 million into the local economy and create 100 jobs during construction, as well as a further 120 jobs once operational.”