The site for the proposed new service station and takeaway in Weston. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Plans for the long-awaited second service station in Weston Creek have been approved subject to a number of conditions.
The development application for the site on the corner of Cotter Road and Kirkpatrick Street, North Weston, near the RSPCA, was lodged in June last year and was the subject of a submission from the Weston Creek Community Council which had concerns about traffic and parking.
The proposal included plans for a Caltex service station and shop, and two food outlets – McDonald’s and Oporto.
The block will have to be split into two sections with an access easement separating the service station and Oporto takeaway building, and the McDonald’s restaurant.
The notice of decision said the design contributed to a ‘convoluted vehicular movement’ and the traffic control measures were inadequate and presented potential hazards to pedestrians and other users. The developer will have to implement design changes and new traffic control measures to mitigate these hazards.
The Oporto drive-through will have to be redesigned and the fuel canopy and bowsers relocated to achieve safer and convenient movement of larger truck/fuel trucks.
Water tanks will also have to be moved to allow unobstructed pedestrian access from the car park to the restaurant.
There will also have to be direct pedestrian access connection between buildings.
There had been a parking shortfall of 15 spaces, with only 65 allocated instead of the 80 required but this has been considered enough to serve the purposes of the site, on condition that an accessible space be added to the McDonald’s car park.
Signage and lighting were also issues, with the Caltex/Oporto sign to be lowered to a maximum of four metres and non-illuminated. The McDonald’s Pylon sign is to be deleted and included as part of the Caltex/Oporto Pylon sign.
Lighting on the site must not have an adverse effect on adjacent residential developments or the Mt Stromlo Observatory.
Landscaping for the development was considered inadequate, given its impact on the existing and future residential areas, and the developer will have to provide more, as a well as plantings along Cotter Road of advanced stock.
Weston Creek Community Council chair Tom Anderson welcomed the approval, saying a second service station for Weston Creek and the new residents of Molonglo was long overdue.
“We started this in 2012 with a petition, through Gai Brodtmann and lodged in the Assembly, and we’ve been working on it since then,” Mr Anderson said.
“You’ve got 28,000 people who are basically dependent on the one service station.”
He said the people in Molonglo deserved better than what they were getting. “They’ve got nothing,” he said.
Mr Anderson said the council was reasonably happy with the changes.
“The configuration needed some changes because we believed there were issues with the way it was set out and the flow of traffic wasn’t good,” he said.
The only other service station in Weston Creek is the Caltex/Woolworths site opposite Cooleman Court.
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