CHARGED DEBATE: Petition wants EV facility in Queenscliff moved

SOME people in Queenscliff are still charged up about the process behind the Borough of Queenscliffe installing electric vehicle chargers outside the borough’s town hall, and want the EV facility to be moved elsewhere.

The borough has again defended its actions and says the Learmonth Street town hall is still the best location for the $170,000 charging station.

Opening to the public in late July, the two Chargefox chargers can each fully charge an electric vehicle in about 40-90 minutes.

They use renewable energy sourced from wind through a power purchase agreement with the Victorian Energy Collaboration.

There has been some public criticism of the spot chosen for the chargers since at least mid-June, and the issue was one of several Cr Donnie Grigau referred to in his failed attempt in the same month to have the Victorian government appoint monitors to the Borough of Queenscliffe council.

Last week, petitioners wrote on the Queenscliffe Heritage page on Facebook that their paper-based petition urged the borough to move the two EV chargers, which they described as “visually confronting”, to a “more appropriate location” and “help preserve our precious Queenscliff heritage”.

Petitioners cited six grounds for why the EV chargers should be relocated:

• No community engagement
• The heritage overlay was ignored
• The loss of five public car parks outside the town hall
• Negative impact on nearby property values
• A 24-hour commercial operation on a residential street, and
• No traffic study or traffic management plan.

In response to questions from this newspaper, a borough spokesperson said the council was aware of the petition and welcomed the feedback.

“We will consider the petition and its requests when it is submitted to the council.”

Several factors were behind the borough’s choice of Learmonth Street, the spokesperson said.

“This type of development is exempt from requiring a planning permit under the Queenscliffe Planning Scheme, however in a municipality renowned for its heritage values and aesthetic, selecting a location for EV chargers necessarily considered heritage outcomes.

“Five other locations across Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff were explored and were ruled out due to having insufficient space for reversing up to the chargers, lack of access to appropriate power supply, and being exposed to elements that result in corrosion.

“Council offices on Learmonth Street were determined as the most appropriate location in terms of safety, accessibility, and proximity to services (public toilets, shops, and cafes).

“The location also meets the requirements of the Road Safety Act.”

The spokesperson noted the council leading the installation of renewables-powered public EV charging stations was one of the pillars of the council’s Climate Emergency Response Plan, adopted in 2021.

The borough contributed $70,000 of its own funding towards the project, the spokesperson said, and successfully applied for $70,000 from the state government’s Charging the Regions program, with a grant agreement signed in February 2022.

Increased building costs pushed the cost of the project to about $170,000, but the borough made up the shortfall.