THE City of Kalamunda has received a development application for a McDonald’s and a car wash, causing residents to voice their concerns about its potential impact on traffic and health.

Kalamunda resident Amanda Newel said residents were deeply concerned about the suitability and long-term impact of this development on Kalamunda.

“The Canning and Heath Roads intersection is already known for congestion and safety issues, including a tragic fatality in 2017.

“Increased traffic from the proposed development will only exacerbate the danger.

“Previous traffic studies have been insufficient, relying on limited data that does not reflect the area’s growing population.”

Further to the traffic and safety considerations, Ms Newel said the development clashed with city planning, community wellbeing, and exposure to children.

A petition to oppose the proposed development had garnered more than 1000 signatures by January 23, with many residents commenting underneath that a fast-food outlet in the town centre would negatively impact Kalamunda.

“I am against a McDonald’s in this location due to the adverse health impacts on our community – this proposed location is on the same street as our local primary school and a day care,” one petitioner said.

“It is a high-density residential area favoured by our elderly population.

“Traffic, congestion and safety of our community will be negatively impacted.

“The proposed development could lead to increased traffic congestion between Heath Road IGA and Canning Road,” another said.

“It’s already quite difficult to exit Heath Road, especially with the pedestrian crosswalk right in front of the IGA.

“Given these challenges, I believe this location is not ideal for either a car wash or a fast-food outlet.”

The development application report prepared for the McDonald’s and car wash addressed the existence of vegetation on the development site.

The report said the subject site contained six trees including a Morton Bay fig, two jacarandas, an English oak and two mature native marri trees.

The marri trees both stand over 21m tall and both have a 50 per cent live canopy ratio at a minimum.

The report said the mature marri trees had been identified as significant and as landmarks to be retained as part of the development and carefully integrated into the design, but the remaining four weren’t guaranteed to be retained.

Ms Newel said this only accounted for the number of trees in the vacant carpark area, not the entire development.

“The report has only counted the trees in the vacant car lot and not the ones in the property that would be bulldozed for the development,” she said.

“There’s a house attached to that area where the development will go, and the car lot, and we counted 11 trees overall, but they’re only keeping two of them.

“We’ve had talks with Guildford who were able to stop a McDonald’s development on the same lines of preserving the heritage of the area.

“We’re a home in the forest and that’s what our city talks about in their action plan statement.

“A fast-food giant in our heritage village in the hill, in walking distance from daycares, primary schools and secondary schools is not healthy and it’s not heritage.”