By Corey Everitt
A gymnastics facility in Pakenham has been rejected by the council after its proposal was thwarted by its insufficient plan for parking spaces.
The application on Mulcahy Road, Pakenham proposed to utilise an existing warehouse for recreational purposes, specifically around gymnastics.
The site would house up to 40 students and four staff at a time to conduct “gymnastics classes, kinder gym, competitive classes and themed birthday parties”.
The site has 14 available parking spaces with the application proposing to take this total to 20.
The parking had a layout which added the six new spaces, three tandem pairs, within the corner of the factory’s western facing wall and the adjacent western boundary.
The council supported rejecting this application as the set up of parking would create “off-site impacts” from increased demand, would “create impacts” for the neighbouring occupants and would “not encourage” safe and orderly parking.
Furthermore, the proposal sat within industrial zoned land, the recreational use was considered “at odds”.
“It’s pretty clear that this comes down to parking,” Cr Davies said.
“My understanding reading through the notes is that the council planning team has worked with the applicant and discussed the hours of operation, the number of people on site, the number of cars and a resolution hasn’t been found.
“Whilst it’s always hard to refuse a permit, in this case it’s not appropriate to have this facility right there in that location.”
The motion was carried, all councillors voted in favour except for Cr Ryan.
