tecoma supermarket, too bulky, too big… and vcat thinks so too

You could not wipe the smile from my face when I learnt that VCAT had upheld council’s decision to refuse the Tecoma Supermarket application.

What a great victory for our community. I congratulate VCAT for listening to community concerns and saying no to a building that was way too bulky and would have left adjoining neighbours and most of the residents of Tecoma with an 11 metre blank concrete wall.

A highly controversial application, council received 531 objections and 16 separate petitions against the application with only 4 letters of support.

Me standing outside some of the buildings that would have been demolished if the application had got the go ahead.

Tecoma is a town that has great hills character, it’s built form is low scale and one of it’s hallmarks is its canopy of trees and open space. It has a population of around 2,000 people and has little capacity for growth.The application was to build a massive supermarket, a building 11 metres high with minimal setbacks, the tiniest of landscaping and 3 storeys high at the rear.

Its interface with the neighbours was atrocious. Not only the direct neighbours would be affected, but the majority of the Tecoma community would be looking at the back of an ugly 3 storey concrete block. I thought it was a complete overdevelopment of the site, it had significant amenity issues; traffic, noise and visual bulk to name a few.

I am so very pleased VCAT upheld council’s decision, if you’d like a copy of the decision email me at s.dunn@yarraranges.vic.gov.au.