OWNERS of The Cavity bar and restaurant in Venus Bay are dismayed by South Gippsland Shire Council’s recent impounding of umbrellas and outdoor furniture in order to reclaim five parking spots, and the resultant loss of trading space and ability to service spiralling demand in the town.
They argue the town’s rapidly expanding population since the pandemic, combined with the tourist season influx, makes it challenging to meet demand as Venus Bay’s only evening dine-in option, and that council should have worked with them to find a solution.
“The population in Venus Bay has just gone crazy because of COVID, and the capacity to accommodate all these people isn’t there if we don’t have that front outdoor area,” Linda Everitt said.
She owns the business with partner Jordan Meikle and said the council decision to take back that area has cost The Cavity 45 per cent of its business.
“They still expect us to trade like we were 11 years ago when the population has quadrupled,” Linda said of the business’ inability to boost its service capacity on an ongoing basis.
She said the decision to reclaim the carparking spaces from the business is having an impact on its staff and the hours they can be provided with, when The Cavity operators have recently worked hard to boost staff numbers after the effects of COVID.
“We employ 40 staff from the towns Venus Bay, Tarwin and a few further out, and they’ve all had to drop hours and some have had to drop off, and they rely on this peak season,” Linda said.
Other staff travel from Melbourne suburbs with the expectation of guaranteed hours.
“We’re right in our peak period and we book out every night,” Linda said after items were impounded, noting the business had numerous bookings it could no longer accommodate.
Linda and Jordan say while some of the impounded furniture was removed from council land, a significant part of the parking spaces concerned occupy body corporate land from which items should not have been seized.
They acknowledge they were advised to clear the parking spaces.
Council states temporary permission was granted in November 2020 for The Cavity to use the five parking spaces for outdoor dining purposes.
“This temporary permission was given by council to support The Cavity when indoor dining was restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic and outdoor dining was encouraged to support social distancing requirements,” a council spokesperson said.
Linda argues COVID hasn’t gone away, and many people still prefer to dine outside.
“We try to get as many people outdoors as possible to stop the spread in a small town and through a business,” Linda said, adding the loss of the extra outdoor space puts people at increased risk.
She mounts a case that the business contributes to reducing demand for parking spots, helping offset the need for the five spaces it was using.
“The Shire is saying, ‘We want our carparks back’; however, we offer a courtesy bus to save the cars coming down,” Linda said.
She also stated that council bought a block of land across the road a few years ago for car parking that could accommodate more cars if it was cleared of trees and turned into a proper carpark.
Council said the business owners were notified in October last year the temporary permission would expire on December 15, and they acknowledged the request to remove items from the parking spaces by then.
Council stated failure to do so led to The Cavity directors being notified they were contravening the South Gippsland Planning Scheme and that they were issued with a Planning Infringement Notice as a result.
That was followed by a January 4 ‘Notice to Comply’ requiring all items and infrastructure be removed from the affected parking bays on the road reserve within seven days, or impounding would occur.
At dawn on Thursday, January 12, a truck arrived and impounded the items.
The Cavity owners previously applied for an amended permit to increase patron numbers, allow live music and entertainment and increase hours of operation, with council stating the application is currently being assessed.
However, council acknowledges providing “correspondence to the business that an increase to the number of patrons, which would be required to operate the outdoor area, would not be supported by council without an upgrade to the wastewater system”, something it deems not currently possible.
Given the expressed lack of support from council, The Cavity owners are pursuing action through VCAT to achieve their aim of increasing patron numbers to better service Venus Bay’s needs.
They believe that should have been dealt with prior to any action from council.
Council acknowledges the business owners have referred the matter to VCAT but notes there is no current permit in place for conducting business on the road reserve, saying that continuing to trade there would contravene The Cavity’s current permit and liquor licencing requirements.
Part of the tension centres on differing views on the capabilities of the wastewater system servicing The Cavity and three shops.
Jordan is adamant that his readings indicate the system is not being overloaded and says that is backed up by its operators.
However, council takes a less positive view, arguing the wastewater system doesn’t have the capacity to cope with the current patron numbers.
“Council is concerned that the wastewater system is at risk of overload, which would cause it to fail,” it states.
“If a septic system fails it can have serious health implications and be very costly to repair or replace, and in a situation where a septic system is shared between a number of businesses the impacts would be experienced by all users."
The Cavity operators are adamant the wastewater system is coping, arguing a number of patrons counted by council as putting it under strain are just stopping in for a quick drink and not taxing the wastewater system, be it by visiting the bathroom or through water usage in the kitchen.
