Discount grocery retailer ALDI has been given the green light to build a standalone store at 155 Salamander Way but councillors want a closer look at plans for a service station next door.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Port Stephens Council considered both sets of plans at its Tuesday night meeting.
It took all of five minutes for the councillors to reach a unanimous decision on ALDI.
“The current ALDI kind of works where it is but having a dedicated store will be good for the area,” Cr John Nell said.
Cr Sally Dover, a long-time campaigner for better footpaths in the precinct, said she had reservations at first.
“I was concerned with the footpaths or appeared to be a lack of footpaths,” she said.
“But I’m pleased to have been told there will be footpaths all the way around the site.”
“We recently identified an opportunity to develop a freestanding store within the existing Salamander Bay retail precinct,” a spokesman for ALDI Australia told Fairfax then.
“This location was chosen as it catered to our increased space requirements, while remaining convenient for our existing customers. Many of these customers have been loyal shoppers since we established in the area in 2012.”
The other plans the council considered at 155 Salamander Way were for a Woolworths service station, with four double-sided pumps and a LPG dispenser.
However, Cr Nell took issue with the access and found unanimous support to defer the plans to conduct a site inspection.
Access is proposed via Bagnall Beach Road (left-in only) and Central Avenue (exit only)
Cr Nell expressed concern that grocery shoppers would have to leave the complex to gain access to the service station.
“Traffic wise this is second rate,” he said.
“This is what happens when you develop a lot here and a lot there; the result is disjointed.
“We need a better outcome.”
Cr Paul Le Mottee was dismayed.
“We had quite a detailed two way [discussion] on this before tonight,” he said.
“I felt that after it was explained it was left turn only, these concerns had been resolved.”
Cr Sally Dover said traffic management was a difficult task.
“I thought the traffic engineers had come up with a good solution,” she said.
“I don’t know how we could come up with anything better.”
ALDI was one of the first retailers to confirm its interest in the expansion of the Salamander Bay Shopping Centre precinct with the purchase of a 7832 square metre portion of lot four.
Port Stephens Council resolved to develop the land in July 2016 and appointed Daracon to undertake work that began soon after.
The project includes the installation of traffic lights and pedestrian crossings at the intersection of Bagnall Beach Road and Town Centre Circuit, as well as a second access road for the Salamander Shopping Centre to be called Central Avenue, off Bagnall Beach Road.
