Ed,
Dave Whitby’s letter (CVI 10/07/19) titled “Roundabout Fiasco” couldn’t have been more aptly titled. The whole situation, including approval of the service station on this undersized site was, and is, a fiasco – one of Council’s finest.
Like many other residents who lodged submissions to Council against this development, former assistant engineer at Maclean Shire Council, Roger McLean, and I both submitted that this site was wholly inappropriate for service station use, for a number of reasons. Council paid no heed to any objections, and rushed both the rezoning and the Development Application through. Primary in our submissions was that a roundabout (estimated by Council to be $400,000) would realistically cost well in excess of half a million, and probably closer to $1m. Looks like we weren’t far out.
The currently adopted ‘non-conforming’ roundabout which appeared to “save the day” for Council at its Extraordinary meeting in September last year, for whatever it ends up costing, is not going to work. This intersection needs a proper two-lane roundabout or traffic lights for it to cope with the busy holiday periods. Why doesn’t Council know this? And a better question still – why did Council not sort all this out BEFORE giving development approval? That is what every other council would have done.
So the Treelands Drive problem lays squarely at Council’s feet. Will there be any competency now in getting itself out of the mess? And is the servo going to be allowed to open without the required intersection upgrade completed and in situ? I guess all we can do is to watch this space.
Warren Rackham, Maclean