THE City of Kalamunda has officially executed a lease agreement for an immersive Harry Potter-themed attraction at Jorgensen Park, advancing the project despite resolute opposition from residents who argue the deal lacks transparent environmental and community safeguards.

For Russel and Wendy Thom, who have resided on the park’s perimeter for 21 years, the planned lights, sounds, and foot traffic expected will likely disrupt their quality of life.

“It is the most beautiful and quiet place to live,” Mr Thom said.

“But to turn around and have this event run for five months is going to be terrible for us; we have basically had all our agency and ability to have any influence over our well-being stripped away.”

Public scrutiny has intensified over the city’s administrative timeline, which saw the project fast-tracked based on an environmental report provided by the proponent, Kzemos Australia.

During last Tuesday’s ordinary meeting, it was revealed that the binding lease had been finalised and signed by both the city and state government after reviewing the proponents environmental report.

Challenged by an increasingly vocal public, city officials have now commissioned an independent environmental consultant to peer review the proponents’ original ecological findings.

“It’s just been done completely back to front. They were supposed to have a management plan and an environmental assessment in place before signing the lease… nothing has been done in the order that it’s supposed to be done,” Mr Thom said.

City of Kalamunda Mayor Margaret Thomas defended the procedural timeline, characterising the lease execution and the independent review as separate but related steps.

“A detailed environmental assessment has been undertaken by the proponent, which is standard practice for proposals of this nature,” she said.

“The proponent’s report concluded that, subject to the implementation of a number of recommended mitigation measures and ongoing monitoring, the proposal is unlikely to result in significant long-term environmental impacts.

“In response to the level of community interest and questions raised regarding independence, the city has also elected to commission an additional independent review and seek input from suitable qualified specialists, including expertise in black cockatoo habitat and behaviour.

“This is not due to a lack of confidence in the initial assessment, but rather to provide an additional layer of assurance and transparency as part of the overall decision-making process.”

Documents recently released to Kalamunda residents under Freedom of Information laws and seen by Echo News revealed the main entrance of the event route is currently planned directly behind residential properties.

“We know now from the mapping that’s been released that the main entrance is right behind our house,” Ms Thom said.

“There will be cycles of between 150 and 180 people every fifteen minutes going past that area… and it will go until between 9pm and 11pm every night.

“We have next door neighbours with a nine-month-old baby… and other neighbours further down from us have two young kids that go to school…. Not to mention pretty much every resident along the boundary line owns a dog.

“We can only imagine how they are going to handle this event with the expected lights, sounds, and foot traffic.”