LMA selects freeway servos builder By Mike Hast THE state government’s freeway authority Linking Melbourne Authority has appointed a builder for the twin service stations on Peninsula Link south of Baxter. They will be built and operated by A A Holdings, a land development and management company based in Collingwood, in conjunction with a sister company Bredix Pty Ltd. The companies develop service stations for BP Australia and The News understands the twin servos will carry the BP brand. The centres, described as “truck stops”, one north-bound and one south-bound, will be built on farming land south of Baxter and would open by early 2013 when the freeway is complete. Each will have a truckies’ lounge, showers, toilets and laundry; baby changing room, children’s playground and picnic area; buildings of about 3000 square metres; parking for 100 cars, four buses, five caravans and 16 trucks; 26 refuelling points for cars and four for trucks; a convenience store, five food or retail shops and a tourist information kiosk; indoor seating for 272 people and outside seating for 52; and about 13 toilets, including one for people with disabilities. LMA issued the tender last May and in December notified Mornington Peninsula Shire Council of its decision. In May, then shire mayor David Gibb said he was surprised LMA had issued the tender as he had no knowledge of it. It was reported that shire CEO Michael Kennedy was privately annoyed at the proposal as the shire has a policy of refusing applications for stand-alone service stations in the green wedge zone, even though they are a permitted use. In its submission to the Peninsula Link environmental effects statement process in December 2008, the shire told LMA: “That council [would] continue to discourage the development of service centres within the green wedge zone along any adopted route of the ... freeway, to
Truck stops: The proposed twin service stations south of Baxter.
avoid further impacts on the landscape or agricultural land.” Bredix Pty Ltd bought 10 hectares just south of Baxter from Margaret Davis and family before the tender was released in May. Mrs Davis’s father bought 100 hectares between Moorooduc Highway and the old railway line and south of Sages Road in the 1950s. The family built a house on Sages Road near the north-east corner of the land in 1968. A large part of the Davis cattle farm has been compulsorily acquired by LMA for the freeway.
In May Cr Gibb said the shire wanted to see the LMA needs analysis that showed twin service centres were viable. “When the service centre planning application comes to the council, we would look at elements such as how does it fit in with our landscape values. There are some high hurdles to jump.” Cr Gibb said he thought north of Baxter was a better location for freeway service centres. On Friday, Peter Baulch, chairman of Baxter Residents and Traders Progress Action Committee, said the committee
and many Baxter residents support the twin servos. “They will not be accessible from Baxter streets and can only be reached via the freeway. They are sufficiently distant from houses to not pose a noise problem and we have been promised the operator will offer employment to Baxter residents as a priority,” he said. LMA chief executive Ken Mathers has told the shire the servo sites would be extensively landscaped to integrated them into the surrounding environment. They would have “community
assets” such as a picnic area, shared pathways for walkers and cyclists, and a tourist information kiosk. Mr Mathers said the centres were needed to provide drivers with a place to rest and refresh to combat driver fatigue. The project would inject $30 million into the local economy via construction and operation once open, and was expected to create 155 direct and 244 indirect full time, part time and casual jobs during the construction period, and 450 jobs when open, Mr Mathers said.
$2m win for Baxter BAXTER residents were all for Peninsula Link freeway until they discovered a harsh reality mid-2009 – a 500-metre long overpass would soar over the town, right next to people’s homes. They had earlier been told the freeway would be built under Frankston-Flinders Rd and the town’s “main street”, BaxterTooradin Rd, vastly reducing the visual and noise impact on the population of about 1200 people. Through the lobby group BRATPAC, residents fought like tigers to get the government and LMA to change the overpass to an underpass, but nature conspired against them – the water table was too close to the surface and putting the freeway below ground level would cost too much. LMA told residents an underpass would be impacted by the water table and surface water, and would require a permanent pumping station, desalination plant and siphon structures. Dropping the freeway down would have greater visual impact as noise walls would be located closer to people’s fencelines, the authority said. A special low-noise road surface would be used, which would reduce the height and amount of sound walls required. BRATPAC chairman Peter Baulch said the
lobby group was now satisfied the overpass was the only option “based on scientific grounds”. He said there was an up side to the controversy as the group had been able to win a number of concessions to benefit Baxter. “As a result of protracted opposition to the overpass, the group was invited to meet roads minister Tim Pallas in November 2010,” he said. A scheduled 30-minute meeting stretched to 90 minutes as Mr Baulch made a compelling case to Mr Pallas and senior executives of LMA and VicRoads that Baxter should receive some benefits for copping the overpass. The government has agreed to: Full sealing, kerbing and underground drainage for Baxter-Tooradin Rd from the rail crossing to Frankston-Flinders Rd roundabout, a long-neglected section. Sealed footpaths on both sides of this section of Baxter-Tooradin Rd. Signalled pedestrian crossing in the shopping precinct, probably near Thomas St. Mr Baulch said the cost of the work would be more than $2 million and would “significantly improve the community amenity in Baxter”.
Dominator: Artist’s drawing of how the 500-metre overpass at Baxter will look. Picture: Linking Melbourne Authority Frankston Times February 2011
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