KALAMUNDA council deferred a decision to approve a request to park commercial trucks on Valcan Road at their February ordinary meeting following residents expressing concerns.

During question time, residents raised concerns about truck parking on 30 Valcan Road, noting that it was classified as an access road so trucks should only enter for deliveries or work-related purposes.

They cited narrow sections, drainage, trees, and winding paths which made it unsuitable for regular truck traffic and referred to a similar truck parking request in the City of Gosnells was previously rejected due to the road’s classification.

City of Kalamunda development services director Nathan Ritchie acknowledged the access road classification and mentioned that it had been considered in development assessments.

“The city is aware of the road reservation and the pavement width,” he said.

“We understand the classifications for what’s there and they have been considered as part of the development assessment before putting forward a recommendation.”

Residents also made deputations against the commercial truck parking proposal citing legal obligations under WA Planning Law to protect rural amenity, which they argued would be violated by approving truck parking.

They added that Valcan Road was a narrow, tree-lined access road which was also a bushfire evacuation route, making additional truck traffic a safety risk.

The City of Kalamunda documents show that they have received eight submissions with the majority opposing the proposal to which the applicant has provided responses in sections.

“Valcan Road has hundreds of vehicle movements, many of them larger vehicles, and an extra one or two a day will make no difference,” the applicant said.

“All our vehicles comply with Australian standards (regarding) noise and indeed there are many hotted up cars and motor bikes in the street that produce much more noise.

“On a daily and weekly basis there are many types of vehicles on Valcan Road including concrete trucks, delivery trucks, horse trucks and semis which have no problem navigating the road or present as a danger to other road users or pedestrians.

The council passed a motion to defer the decision to the March ordinary council meeting for further review.