ABOUT 150 residents gathered at Kalamunda Uniting Church to oppose the development proposal for a McDonald’s and car wash being built at the intersection of Heath and Canning roads.

The February 1 meeting was held in the church neighbouring the site of the new proposed development.

Greens Kalamunda electorate candidate Janelle Sewell attended the meeting and said the attendees filled up the whole hall and were concerned about a range of issues.

“(Canning Court residents) expressed they went there to live a healthy life and stay connected, and now they can’t sit outside without hearing, ‘you want fries with that?’” she said.

“The proximity to the residential area is very unreasonable to them.

“It’s a very vulnerable group and it does seem a bit unfair they have to deal with something at this scale.”

Fast food and car wash proposal for Kalamunda reported that residents had concerns about the traffic, impact to local amenity, mature tree clearing and its proximity to residential areas and schools.

The matter was brought to the Kalamunda annual general meeting of electors on February 4.

Echo News attended the meeting at Kalamunda council chambers which had a line of residents waiting to find a seat for the evening.

During the meeting, City of Kalamunda development services director Nathan Ritchie said the process of the development was in the engagement phase.

“We have until February 14 to receive your submissions, and I encourage you to put those submissions forward,” he said.

Mr Ritchie encouraged submissions to be made on planning grounds, and less on opinion-based or emotive grounds.

“They hold greater rigor in the (development consideration) process than individual opinions,” he said.

“So, if I was to help encourage you to make those submissions, I would guide you towards that.

“I would encourage you to put those submissions forward through the Kalamunda Engage portal, where they’ll be picked up and considered as part of the process.

“We will make reference to (petitions submitted).

“Today, I think at last count, we’ve received about 500-odd submissions from the public at this point in time.

“We’re aware of the petition out there with over 1000 signatures, and that will form part of the assessment process against all other justified planning considerations.”

Kalamunda resident Rachel Davison moved the motion to bring awareness to the City of Kalamunda that there was widespread community dismay and disapproval for the McDonald’s and car wash development.

The motion was seconded by resident Mikaela Simondson who called for planning shortfalls to be addressed in a report to the development assessment panel, and for resident concerns to be voiced to the panel in their report.

The motion was carried unanimously with applause pealing through the chambers after the motions were spoken and after each speech given by residents, including councillor David Modolo.

A community rally is planned to be held at Stirk Park this Saturday at 10am where the concerns will be further discussed with the support of the Cancer Council WA.