Country club’s retirees call for business ‘limits’

By Cherie Donnellan
RESIDENTS of a developing retirement village in Torquay’s west want to limit the operations of two longstanding businesses next door, according to a petition.
Fifty-nine Kithbrooke Park Country Club retirees have petitioned council against Grossmans Garden Supplies and concrete products firm Economix over “noise and dust emissions” and damaged roads.
Both businesses, on the corner of Grossmans and Ghazeepore Rds, were operating for years before the first residents moved into the village in 2010.
The petition said dust was “affecting the health of the residents with asthma and respiratory problems”, while “noise from 5.30am onwards is affecting our sleep and quality of life”.
Truck traffic from the businesses was “significantly” damaging Ghazeepore Rd, which the residents must use to access Kithbrooke.
“This is creating a dangerous road surface and the speed of the trucks risks driver safety,” the petition said.
Kithbrooke residents sought a series of limits on both businesses.
“We recommend a drastic reduction in noise pollution and curfew on hours of operation.
“We recommend that council and the relevant authority set minimum/maximum dust emission levels and have operators within the site work to a dust management plan as part of their permit and (to) contain dust to within their boundary.”
Planning Institute of Australia Victoria division executive officer Stuart Worn said residents of new estates complaining about neighbouring businesses had become a “recurring issue”.
“It’s an issue that needs to be managed at the planning stage by local council to protect both residents and businesses,” Mr Worn said.
Councils faced a “balancing act” with the “need for places for people to work as well as places to live”.
Mr Worn said retirement villages were “usually” built near community facilities so residents could access public transport and shops.
But developers often bought cheap land “in places less than ideal”, he said.
Grossmans Garden Supplies and Economix declined comment.