Tecoma: suburb’s tallest building to go up next to McDonald’s
More than five years after opponents lost a fight to save a Dandenong Ranges town from McDonald’s, neighbours have tried to stop an even bigger development going up next door. But VCAT has had the final say on plans.
Outer East
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Tecoma’s main street is set to reach new heights, with a shop and five homes approved to go up next to the suburb’s controversial McDonald’s restaurant.
The 7.88m development will become the tallest building in the suburb after VCAT overruled Yarra Ranges Council’s push to reduce its height to lower than the neighbouring two-storey McDonald’s and Salvation Army store.
Both campaigners and the developer took the plans for a shop, two apartments and three townhouses at 1533 Burwood Highway before the tribunal, unhappy with the conditional permit the council issued in November.
Norman Delmas, a Tecoma Village Action Group committee member, was one of the residents who argued the development would be “visually dominant” and “out of character” in Tecoma.
Noting most buildings along Burwood Highway were single-storey, he pushed for the development to be made single-storey at the front of the site, with a double-storey extension at the back.
He argued the bulk of the building would also obscure the area’s views.
But the tribunal sided with the developer, A & D Co Pty Ltd, and instead lifted the restrictions the council had placed on the permit, allowing the building to be taller than was originally approved.
The council had tried to limit the building to 7m, with the area’s planning guidelines recommending a building should not exceed the standard two-storey height limit of 7.5m.
But VCAT member Tracy Watson said the recommendation was not mandatory, and allowed the developer to build to the initial plans of 7.88m.
“A 380mm height difference is negligible,” Ms Watson said.
“It is only marginally higher than the existing Salvos and McDonald’s buildings.”
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The new permit allows for a shop to be built abutting Burwood Highway, with two apartments on top, and three, three-storey townhouses to be built behind, with the ground level to be used for parking.
When the plans went before the council last year 13 objections were received, along with a petition against the proposal.
The fight against the development comes after Tecoma residents spent three years fighting fast-food restaurant McDonalds opening in their suburb, before their battle was lost in April 2014.