Residents in Canberra's growing Weston Creek area are one step closer to getting a second service station, as a development application for the proposal is lodged with the ACT government.
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The plans, which are now available for public consultation, will feature a Caltex service station built on the corner of Cotter Road and Kirkpatrick Street.
In addition, the 112,000 square metre space will also be subdivided and will include an Oporto and a McDonald's.
Plans for a second service station have been a long time coming, with the area's 23,000 residents currently relying on a single petrol station at Cooleman Court.
Drivers have regularly been subjected to long waits for fuel, with there even being instances of petrol running out at the service station.
Public consultation on the site closes on July 3, and if approved, construction would begin in coming weeks.
It's expected that construction on the new service station as well as the McDonald's and Oporto would cost more than $2.3 million.
The proposal said there would be six fuel bowsers and room for 65 car parking spaces.
A traffic report submitted as part of the development application said it was expected the development would generate 440 vehicle trips during the evening peak, with 206 of these being from 'passing traffic' while the other 234 will be from 'stand-alone trips'.
The site was purchased in November 2015 by a Sydney-based company for more $5.75 million, well above the reserve.
The campaign for a second service station in the area has been underway for several years, with a petition for the Weston site to be used as a petrol station being started by Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann in 2013.
Weston Creek Community Council chairman Tom Anderson said the development application being lodged was welcome news.
"It will be good to get the service station to service the area and take the pressure off the previous service station, which at times gets overloaded and sometimes has to shut down," he said.
"However, it could've come about six months earlier."
Mr Anderson expected it would be at least another 12 months before the service station opened to the public.
The community council's chair said with the population of Weston Creek suburbs set to grow over the next few years, more services for the area were critical, with more service stations in addition to the one proposed needed.
"I think it's necessary for the area as Molonglo grows and Denman Prospect is going ahead and Coombs is fairly full," he said.
"They're going along the lines of a much denser population, and we'll have more people in more cars."
