By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
AN outdoor advertising company has failed in its bid to install a 19.5-metre high V-shaped billboard facing both directions of EastLink traffic at 67 Popes Road, Keysborough.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal member Vicki Davies ruled against iOM Pty Ltd’s proposed twin-panel billboard mounted on a pole on industrial land about 40 metres from the tollway.
The proposal had been earlier rejected by Greater Dandenong Council and was also opposed by tollway operator Connect East.
The council, at the behest of Connect East, last year adopted a planning scheme amendment discouraging signage near the tollway that would have an adverse visual impact.
The amendment has yet to be approved by Planning Minister Matthew Guy.
Ms Davies stated tollway operator ConnectEast’s support for a policy discouraging advertising signs was “controversial”.
“Its support of the proposed policy and its objection to this proposed sign, just outside the corridor, would certainly have more credibility if there were no major promotion signs with the corridor and ConnectEast did not earn revenue from such signs.”
Ms Davies found the sign was not appropriate because it would be a “dominant element” in views from EastLink.
It did not achieve a standard “appropriate to the importance of the adjacent transport route”.
