By Ethan Benedicto
A new proposed church at 67 Shrives Road, Narre Warren South, has been met with strong-willed complaints from neighbouring and local residents.
While factors like noise, visual distraction and traffic generation are on the table, the lack of development on Shrives Road itself also plays a hand in the residents’ minds regarding the new proposal.
Neighbouring homeowner for over 20 years, Goeff Warner says that not only is the proposal “out of place”, but it also “throws us under the bus”.
“It’s going to affect our area, the church wins, they get what they want and we [residents] lose the whole way; there’s no wins in it for us.
“You’re not going to see neighbours here go and attend their church, they just won’t,” Mr Warner said.
The application seeks for the granting of a permit for the use and development of a place of assembly on the designated address, which was purchased by the Immanuel Mar Thoma Church in 2018; the estimated cost of development is $3 million.
If a permit was granted, this would see the construction of a place of worship roughly 10 metres tall (in addition of the cross), with grilled fencing, an automatic sliding gate and a two-metre by one-metre signboard.
The church’s capacity is capped at 200 people, including priests, volunteers and parishioners, with 58 car park spaces.
Fellow neighbours Mark Sowden and Pierre (Peter) Camilleri are of the same mind, adding that they are both “concerned” with the proposition.
“I mean, 60 cars is not enough for 200 people and these people are looking for a new space from Hampton Park because there’s a lot of them,” Mr Camilleri said.
“If they’re going to overflow and park in the nature strip here, then we can’t get out; we already have trouble coming out sometimes with the kindergarten.”
The total designated space for religious gatherings is 296 square metres, the office space at 31 with a total of 327 square metres in floor area, with parking set to be at the rear and access through the eastern side of the church; the lot size is approximately 4023 square metres.
This would also mean the demolition of the current, single-storey brick home, the brick garage as well as the gi shed at the rear of the property.
“Surrounding residences, even from here, from my kitchen window, you’re going to see it,” Mr Warner said.
“No we’re not used to noise, my wife and I have to have complete silence, and some of us here have sleeping disorders; we need to be able to have quiet.”
An attached letter of concern to the City of Casey was also included in the planning document; received by the council on 24 August 2023, it details that the current community attending the church services at Hampton Park has 115-plus registered families, with an average of four members totalling to 350-plus members.
It added that the plans would not be able to accommodate the volume of patrons, considering that their current site at Holy Trinity Anglican Church “average 90-plus cars on Sundays” and “have been warned several times by CFA next door… due to fire hazard/ambulance hazard in blocking of the road”.
“We majority of members of Immanuel Mar Thoma Church feel that we are not being given the fair facility we are supposed to get from the so called church construction team,” the letter said.
The writer of the letter shared some similar concerns with the neighbouring residents saying that current planning capacity limits “will lead to serious traffic blocks as well as accidents, fire hazards and ambulance hazards on Shrives Road”.
“Majority – more than 60 per cent – of the members in the church community is of the opinion that we need to plan ahead for at least five years and make a decision of acquiring a bigger land and building a bigger church in a commercial or multipurpose zoning,” the letter said.
Currently, the site at 67 Shrives Road has been designated as a Low Density Residential Zone.
According to the planning document in relation to the impact on neighbourhood character, careful consideration for landscaping has been taken into account, with the front and the rear setbacks open for planting canopy trees.
In addition, it also stated that the proposed building is “highly articulated with a variation of colours” which aims to minimise the appearance of visual bulk; furthermore, it was also stated that if and when complete, the development would enhance the streetscape and provide visual street appeal.
Mr Warner’s other concerns lay with Shrives Road’s current condition, with traffic congestion extending from Webb Street, and along Dee Wy Road through peak hours of the day, with the speed limit still capped at 70km/h.
“If you’re coming from Hampton Park, you’re going to be trying to make a right turn and even at the best of times it’s actually a danger,” he said.
Included in the application, the Traffic Impact Report detailed that Sunday peak hours would be 10am to 11am, with volume at 585 vehicles eastbound and 452 westbound.
The document stated confidence in patrons utilising existing public transport, but in the event that all visitors were to arrive by car – with 65 trips in and out expected – the traffic generated by the site is stated to be readily accommodated by the surrounding road network.
For Mr Warner, however, the church’s maximum capacity of 200 people with 58 car parking spaces poses a concern for the current traffic volume.
“Neighbours have been complaining here for around 10 years about the road if you’re coming from Fountain Gate, you tend to go up quite quick and if there’s someone turning out of the driveway, you’re not going to see them,” Mr Warner said.
In more detail, the proposed use of the church would see 200 people between 9am and 11am on Sundays, 85-100 people for Sunday school between 11am and 12pm and 50-60 people for regional language school on Sundays between 12pm to 1pm.
Young family fellowship on Sundays, between 4pm to 6pm would see 50-70 people, with choir practice on Saturdays accommodating 50-60 between 4:30pm to 6pm.
Prayer fellowships on Fridays between 6pm to 7pm would see 20-30 people, and weekdays will have 5-6 visitors for counselling and or special meetings and must be attained through appointment.
Operating hours for the church would be as follows: Monday to Friday from 9am to 7:30pm, Saturdays from 9am to 6pm and Sundays from 8:30am to 6pm.
The traffic report adds that Shrives Road “already carries higher levels of traffic during the AM and PM peak hours and operates at a good level”.
“The additional traffic generated by the site I negligible on a Sunday morning and considered to be very low – less than 50 vehicles per direction – impact on Shrives Road,” it said.
Lack of proper footpath access was another issue that Mr Warner had been concerned about, with crossing to the opposite nature strip from 67 Shrives Road made difficult due to the lack of proper crossing amenities and traffic calming devices.
If improvements to Shrives Road were made beforehand, such as widening of lanes, Mr Warner believed that “it would lessen the concerns dramatically”.
“It would make it a lot safer to put in proper footpaths; it’s not just the traffic.
“They [the document] talk about using footpaths that are 300 metres away, it’s the lack of footpaths on this side, there aren’t any,” he said.
Touching on the access to the site through public transport, the planning document states that the site is “not considered to be within the public transport network”, but that there are buses operating within 350 metres of the site at Harold Keys Drive.
It also added that with the development of the area, it is “recommended that council investigate” the provision of a footpath on the southern side of Shrives Road and a proper crossing to the north.
As it stands, there is no direct way for pedestrians to access 67 Shrives Road.
Mr Warner and Mr Sowden met with Casey’s senior statutory officer, planning and building, Mr Lachlan Leahy on 17 July, expressing their concerns of the proposed development.
The City of Casey will not be deciding on the application before 29 July, with a Facebook page titled ‘No Church here thank you’ reminding local members to submit their objections to council before the cut-off date.
The planning application is open to the public and can be viewed at the City of Casey’s website.
