Onkaparinga Council approve McLaren Vale coffee roaster as petition flat

It was a petition against a new coffee-grinding business in an SA wine region – but there was one big problem.

Dozens of McLaren Vale residents are bitter about a proposed coffee roasting operation near their home – but their objection to the shop has come too little … too latte.

Onkaparinga Council’s assessment panel greenlit the light industry operation at 143-145 Main Road, McLaren Vale, earlier this month after a three-week period allowing public feedback.

One submission from two McLaren Vale locals opposing the development was lodged at the time.

But a 73-signature petition opposing the development – headed by the same two residents – was later submitted to council and dated July 4, a day after assessment panel made its decision.

It raised concerns about smell, noise, vehicle movement and impact on the area at the time.

Council last week said the petition was received on July 3, two weeks after the public notification period concluded, and therefore could not be considered.

A coffee roasting operation will go ahead in McLaren Vale despite a failed bitter protest. Photo: John McCutcheon / Sunshine Coast Daily

Staff added the petition outlined the same concerns raised by the initial objectors.

The Environment Protection Authority made no objections to the development, stating that provided the coffee roaster operated in accordance with its submitted documentation it was “unlikely the proposed coffee roasting activity would result in any adverse environmental impacts”.

In making its decision, the assessment panel noted while ‘light industry’ was not an envisaged land use under the current zone, the proposal was small in scale and “supplementary to the existing land uses on the subject land”.

“(It) will have the ability to support the local area by producing coffee that could potentially be sold in the existing shop or other shops or cafes in the area and will also contribution to continued economic and tourism growth for the McLaren Vale township at an appropriate scale,” the panel said.

The operation is expected to run out of a storage shed next to a heritage building and skate and surf shop Daily Grind, which also sells coffee.

According to the applicant, it would use an energy-efficient Loring S15 Falcon machine for the coffee roasting, which would be undertaken by up to two staff between 8am and 5pm from Monday to Saturday.

Originally published as Onkaparinga Council approve McLaren Vale coffee roaster as petition flat