A suburban street could become a dedicated entry route for fuel tankers under plans to expand diesel storage at an existing service station.
PRRK Pty Ltd has lodged a development application with Sunshine Coast Council for Shell Buderim, at 116 King Street, seeking approval for a new 10,000-litre aboveground diesel tank and an additional one-way driveway on Bairnsdale Street West.
The new crossover would be constructed at the south-western corner of the property and require part of the existing boundary fence to be removed.
The station currently has underground tanks capable of holding 43,000 litres of petrol and 12,000 litres of diesel, meaning the proposal would lift its diesel storage capacity to 22,000 litres.
The planning report said the additional capacity was intended to meet the “growing refuelling demand of the local community and passing motorists”.
Under the proposed traffic arrangement, eight-metre fuel tankers could enter the station from Bairnsdale Street West, refill the new tank within the property and leave in a forward direction through the existing King Street crossover.
The report described the new driveway as being “dedicated exclusively to tanker ingress” and has been designed in accordance with council’s engineering requirements.
“This arrangement eliminates reversing movements onto the public road and substantially reduces interaction between heavy vehicles and customer traffic,” it said.
“Appropriate directional signage, pavement markings and operational controls will reinforce the one-way circulation system and ensure safe movement of all site users.”
Bairnsdale Street West is identified as a local road, with low-density residential properties located across the street and immediately south of the service station.
During preliminary discussions, Sunshine Coast Council said the applicant would need to demonstrate that trucks using the driveway beside residential premises would not cause unacceptable light, noise or emissions impacts.
Council’s notes also identified acoustic and air-quality reports as required technical documents.
The proposed tank would meet the planning scheme’s side and rear setback requirements but would sit closer than the required eight metres from the Bairnsdale Street West frontage.
However, the applicant argued the self-bunded, four-hour fire-rated tank would include secondary containment, leak monitoring and impact protection, and would remain screened by the existing two-metre-high boundary fence.
The report said the reduced setback would not compromise “public safety, environmental protection or visual amenity”.
The $100,000 project also includes plans to raise the existing fuel canopy by one metre at a later stage.
The application is code assessable and is not subject to the formal public notification process.
