by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has refused a time extension for an automatic car wash at Keysborough South shopping centre, partly due to recently-built homes nearby.
Proponent WP Holdings Australia Pty Ltd had failed to start work on the two-bay car wash at 211 Chapel Road since a council planning permit in 2019.
In that time, three multi-storey dwellings in Calibre Retreat had been built metres away to the site’s north, replacing a single-storey home.
In a decision on 22 May, VCAT member Tracey Bilston-McGillen refused WP’s application for a six-month extension to start works and a two-year extension to complete the car wash.
Greater Dandenong Council had granted two previous time extensions in 2021 and 2022, but refused a first-floor extension in 2023 and a third time extension in June last year due to “substantial change” near the site.
The car wash would cause “unreasonable amenity impacts” on the new homes nearby, the council stated.
The permit expired when works didn’t start by 25 July last year.
In late 2024, Greater Dandenong failed to make a decision in time on a fourth sought time-extension .
The council later stated that it would have refused the application.
On top of the amenity issues, Greater Dandenong argued the works were not complex, so there was sufficient time given to start the works.
WP argued it had not “sat on its hands”, having applied for a permit amendment for a caretaker’s house and lodged a landscape plan.
It had also hired a builder for site levelling, vegetation clearing, a new fence and other preparatory works.
VCAT member Bilston-McGillen said sufficient time had been already given to WP, taking into account the time lost due to the “Covid-19 factor”.
Meanwhile, the 2019 permit didn’t address current amenity issues for homes to the north, which were a “substantive change” in the site’s context.
Amenity issues included the need for additional noise suppression and perhaps more restrictive operating hours.
“Whilst it is likely that a permit may be granted for a car wash, the conditions are likely to be very different,” Ms Bilston-McGillen stated.
