The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has rejected plans to build a child care centre on a contaminated industrial site in Yarraville.
One of Four Pty Ltd took Maribyrnong council to VCAT in August over its refusal of a permit for the 124-child centre in an industrial 3 zone at 167-173 Hyde Street.
VCAT members Geoffrey Code and Catherine Wilson noted that potential advantages of the site included its large size, frontage to a busy road, a 24-hour truck curfew, location on a designated bicycle route, and a bus stop out the front.
“There is no residential use on any of the land’s abuttals, which means the common potential amenity impacts of a child care centre (that is, noise, traffic and non-residential intrusion) do not apply,” they said in their decision.
Trucks and contamination
They said the site was contaminated, abutted a trucking depot and was near the Port of Melbourne and the major hazard facilities of Coode Island and the Mobil Yarraville Terminal. The land had previously been used for quarrying, blacksmithing, landfill, a petrol filling station, manufacturing and transport- related industries.
An environmental site assessment found contamination including lead, copper, nickel, petroleum hydrocarbons and asbestos.
Although VCAT found an appropriate emergency response plan could address safety risks associated with the two major hazard facilities, there were also strong concerns over noise and air pollution from the adjoining Murphy Transport Solutions site.
“The density of diesel engines in such close proximity to the centre elevates the risks of unacceptable air quality,” the VCAT report stated.
The two VCAT members also remained unconvinced that measures such as a noise wall would be enough to allow children to sleep.
“That there is a need for a 55-metre-long and seven-metre-high acoustic barrier to meet the design target shows the scale of the potential acoustic problem,” they said.
“In conclusion, the child care centre and Murphy Transport Solutions are incompatible neighbours.”
