Maccas boycott call

By CASEY NEILL
TECOMA residents have issued a call to arms ahead of their VCAT battle against McDonald’s.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal will hear the burger giant’s proposal for a Burwood Highway store in the town from 6 to 13 August.
Yarra Ranges Council rejected Maccas’ planning application last October and the restaurant chain is appealing the decision.
Tecoma Village Action Group (TVAG) is calling for locals to take a pledge to boycott any McDonald’s in the Dandenongs. Objectors’ main concerns surrounded traffic, neighbourhood character and amenity.
“We would like to get across to them the level of disdain that the hills community has for their persistence,” TVAG vice president David Jewell said.
“The community was quite clear, with over 1100 voices against their proposal and the resultant unanimous vote by our councillors in rejecting their application, that we do not want their store in the Dandenong Ranges.
“Still they don’t listen.”
The pledge is available at www.tvag.org.au and www.nomaccasinthehills.info and states: “We the undersigned give our solemn pledge that we will not patronise any McDonald’s outlet should one be built in Tecoma or anywhere in the Dandenong Ranges. We will encourage our family and friends to support our decision with their actions.”
Mr Jewell said the aim was to ensure McDonald’s understood the ramifications of not listening to the community.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Laura Keith said the chain was “sensitive to the views raised by members of the local community” but knew there was also support among the community for a restaurant at the site currently home to Hippie Haven Music Café and Indian restaurant Saffron Cottage.
“We believe that our application met council planning requirements,” she said.
“It also considered and addressed areas of concern raised by the community around traffic, noise and litter.
“We also believe that like any local business person, a local McDonald’s licensee should be given a reasonable opportunity to open their own business and contribute to the community.”
No Maccas in the Hills, a local group formed to oppose the restaurant’s push into the Dandenongs, is calling for experts to join the fight.
VCAT received more than 300 individual objections and because of this, at a practice hearing on 30 April its deputy president Helen Gibson allocated six days for the appeal – one for Yarra Ranges Council, two for McDonald’s, and three for the community.
No Maccas in the Hills member Claire Ferres Miles said three days was a fantastic result.
“And shows that VCAT has responded to the overwhelming number of people in our community that have objected to the McDonald’s Tecoma application,” she said.
“It is now our important task to assist people in presenting their concerns about this proposal, so that the community has the strongest possible case.”
McDonald’s will put forward five experts to assist their case.
“And they’ve got very deep pockets to pay for it,” Ms Ferres Miles said.
So No Maccas in the Hills is calling for experts in architecture and urban design, town planning, traffic and transport, health and community wellbeing, marketing and tourism, acoustics, lighting, sociology, media relations, and environmental impact. Email nomaccas2012@gmail.com to help.