VCAT upholds decision to disallow large sign

A decision by Baw Baw Shire to disallow a large promotional sign in Drouin has been upheld by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Regional Billboard Co. initially proposed to install a double-sided illuminated sign 5.15 metres above ground level with a width of 8.3 metres and a display area of 18 square metres on each side on a site on the north-west corner of Princes Way and Roberts Court.
The applicant later offered to make the sign non-illuminated, an action VCAT member Tracy Watson stated in her decision was an implicit acknowledgement of its visual dominance and adverse impact on existing nearby residential areas.
She rejected the argument that the size of the sign was appropriate at the proposed location in an industrial zone, finding it had a strong interface, visual relationship and proximity to sensitive residential and tourism areas including a caravan park within 50 metres and a dwelling 46 metres away.
Ms Watson stated a clause of the planning scheme required her to consider effects the sign would have on residential areas.
The decision by VCAT, however, was not a total win for Baw Baw Shire.
It was ordered that council refund the applicant the full amount, $1437.30, it paid as an application fee for a permit to erect the sign.
Ms Watson said the order was made because council had taken 164 days, well above the prescribed 60 days, to make a decision on the application and did not respond to a written request by VCAT to the applicant's submission for a reimbursement of the fee.