A proposed 24-hour fast-food restaurant and service station has been refused for Mount Hutton after being deemed "not in the public interest" by Lake Macquarie councillors.
The proposal for 10-14 Wilsons Road was recommended for approval by council staff but was staunchly opposed by nearby residents. An alternate motion put up by councillor Adam Shultz, which called for the refusal based on adverse impacts to the surrounding community, was successful.
There were 41 submissions from the public about the proposal, all of which were against it. The most common concerns were related to traffic, noise, smell, light spill, crime risk and amenity impacts. These issues were addressed through a Transport for NSW assessment for traffic, acoustic fencing for noise, a vapour recovery system for smell, landscaping and fencing for lighting, surveillance for crime and landscape design for amenity.
Liberal councillors Jason Pauling and Kevin Baker argued the proposal had addressed all necessary requirements with staff and complied with the B2 local centre zoning and Mount Hutton area plan.
"I'm not as convinced this is as out of character as Cr Shultz alluded to," Cr Pauling said.
Cr Baker also said that Mount Hutton was a "changing suburb" and there were already other fast-food outlets in the area.
"This is an important development that helps change the area into what council has determined some 20 years ago and more recently through the Mount Hutton area plan what council believes the Mount Hutton area is evolving into," he said.
But other councillors said while the development ticked the technical boxes, they needed to take into account the impact it would have on the surrounding residents. They pointed out while there are other fast-food outlets in the area, none of them are 24 hours.
"It's up to us as councillors to add a community perspective to the decisions that we make," councillor Brian Adamthwaite said.
"And that community perspective takes into account the social aspects of the things we do."
"The NSW ombudsman says ... public officials have an overarching obligation to act in the public interest and public interest is more than just compliance," councillor Wendy Harrison said.
Some also pointed out while the development is in a B2 zone, it abutted an R3 medium density residential zone and was very close to houses.
"To me this issue highlights a structural flaw in the way that we do zoning in that we have really hard edges to where one zone ends and another zone begins," councillor Barney Langford said. "And I think that's the cause of the problem here."
"My concern with agreeing with this proposal as it's presented is that we literally have one house next door that is metres away from the drive through ordering microphone," Cr Adamthwaite said.
"And then on the other side in the residential area, we have a wall when it's completed to its height including the barrier, including perspex on top of that - it's going to reach 4.3 metres, over the roof of the next-door property."
"I certainly support a service station and fast food and 24-hours economy, and I would support it in Mount Hutton but just not in this particular location," councillor John Gilbert said.
Councillor Colin Grigg attempted to put up amendments cutting the hours of operation and reducing the size of the acoustic wall, before then asking for a deferral of the motion to review these issues.
But this was voted down, with Cr Adamthwaite saying while it was admirable for Cr Grigg to look for a compromised solution, he didn't believe the surrounding residents were going to find a compromise was going to help.
"Clearly the wall was designed to try and mitigate some of the problems that clearly exist there, if we reduce the wall that just makes it worse," he said.
