By NOEL MURPHY
OBJECTORS to a chemical storage warehouse proposed for North Geelong lack understanding of the proposal, the site owner believes.
Teleta Group director Ryan McGarigle said the objectors had driven a campaign against the Roseneath Ave proposal without properly checking the plans or talking with the company behind the project.
He said Teleta’s overtures to talk with objectors, many of them nearby residents in the Industrial 1 zoned area, had been rejected but the company was committed to going through their formal objections to see how it could appease their concerns.
Teleta, a long-time Geelong developer that bought the site from Ferro Corporation, wants to lease the chemical storage site to a mining-sector supplier.
Taleta has applied to City Hall to boost the site’s storage capacity from 4000 litres to as much as five million.
Geelong MP Ian Trezise has led up to 100 objectors in arguing that council should reject storage outright, citing its proximity to housing and aged care facilities.
Mr McGarigle told the Independent the five million figure was more likely the annual output, with the site to store less than a quarter of that quantity at any time.
The project would create 30 jobs, he said.
“This really isn’t a major hazard facility and I’ve told local representatives, I’ve told Ian Trezise, I’m happy to come and speak to them.
“I’m happy to answer questions if they’re relevant but I’m not interested in dealing with people who don’t want to listen.
“We want an outcome that pleases everybody.”
LETTERS, PAGE 15
