By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
GREATER Dandenong councillors have rejected a proposed shisha lounge in Lonsdale Street declaring it could be illegal under the Tobacco Act.
At a council meeting on Monday night, (10 August) councillors unanimously rejected a council planning officers’ report in favour of a permit for the lounge and restaurant with a maximum of 50 patrons.
The venue was planned to be near a family martial arts gym, pool hall and slot-car racing centre at a retail area at 111-116 Lonsdale Street.
Objector Bruce Corles of Lifestyle Martial Arts Health and Fitness Centre was bemused that council officers had not rejected the proposal on the basis that it would add to significant parking congestion.
He said about 120 of his patrons competed for 55 spaces in the adjoining car park.
Many of the fitness centre’s members attended in the evenings which coinciding with peak time at the proposed lounge.
Mr Corles had earlier written to councillors over “grave concern” about second-hand smoke passing into the centre through the roof.
He warned Dandenong might “fall into the seedy ghettos and trouble hot-spots that shisha lounges so often portray”, pointing to a proposed closing time of 2am.
“It appears Dandenong is becoming the unhealthy City of Shisha Lounges while other councils are going their utmost to ban them.
“We are trying to teach and propose a healthy way of life by engaging kids from as young as four into sporting activities.
“We feel this will impact negatively on the kids we teach, our members and will also directly impact the current businesses in this area.”
A council report stated the near-24-hour proposed venue, which would not serve alcohol and have CCTV, would increase surveillance of the area.
It stated its mainly after-hours operation – and a maximum of 50 patrons – would alleviate parking congestion concerns.
Councillors instead passed a motion declared the proposal could be illegal under a “judicial interpretation” of the Tobacco Act – an interpretation that could extend indoor-smoking bans to cover shisha lounges.
In 2013, Greater Dandenong Council wrote to the previous state government about an end to indoor-smoking exemptions that allow for shisha smoking in cafes, restaurants and workplaces.
The aim was to bring it in line with cigarette bans in such venues.
