Como residents hit back against proposal for two-storey Ryrie Avenue childcare centre

Disgruntled locals have hit back against yet another proposal for a two-storey childcare facility in a quiet residential suburb.

The proposed $2 million development — put forward by applicant Dynamic Planning and Developments — would transform 78 Ryrie Avenue in Como, on the corner of Ryrie Avenue and Murray Street, into Panda Early Learning Centre for up to 76 children.

The proposal was first submitted to the City of South Perth last October.

Just this month, the Metro Inner Joint Development Assessment Panel approved the development of a childcare facility on Birdwood Avenue — just 1km from the proposed Ryrie Avenue site — despite community consultation revealing more than 96 per cent of respondents opposed the development.

Similarly, 96 per cent of respondents to the Ryrie Avenue community consultation expressed their objection to the proposal.

Murray Street resident John Nguyen told PerthNow he was concerned the proposed Ryrie Avenue facility would increase traffic, vehicle noise and illegal parking.

“I’m literally across the road (from the childcare centre), so I just know that there’s going to be a lot of verge parking and driveway parking on the property ... my real concern is that there’s overflow and no consideration for adequate parking,” he said.

“There’s going to be so much traffic ... I feel like it’s just an accident waiting to happen.

Like Mr Nguyen, Murray Street resident Rob Ramsden said traffic was his “primary concern”.

“We’ve already experienced a significant amount of traffic coming from Penrhos College ... so it does get extremely congested in and around our area along Ryrie Avenue,” Mr Ramsden said.

“When you’re dropping off a child ... you need to stop, take the child out, bring the child in, so there’s usually anywhere between five and 15 minutes where the child is being dropped off.

“All that time leads to what will happen to the parking on Murray Street, which would be really difficult because there’s buses that run through and there’s obviously a high demand for the roads for traffic in that timeframe.

“The other traffic concern is the fact that the access and egress to the childcare centre is directly on to Murray Street and that’s where the buses are going to be coming down the hill on to a fairly regular route.

“So cars trying to get in and out are going to be at risk of either holding up the buses or worse, there could be accidents there.”

But City of South Perth chief executive Mike Bradford said Dynamic Planning and Developments had submitted a traffic impact statement that would be reviewed by the city in accordance with local planning and development regulations.

“The city will manage car parking in accordance with the city’s Parking Local Law, as it would for all other local road reserves,” Mr Bradford said.

Locals also claim there are about 25 childcare facilities within 4km of the Ryrie Avenue site, the “majority” of which “currently have vacancies”.

But Mr Bradford said childcare facilities were classified as “discretionary use” within residential zones, meaning they were “capable of being approved”.

“The city considers applications based on land-use permissibility, as outlined in the city’s Local Planning Scheme,” he said.

Mr Bradford said he expected the application to be put to the Metro Inner Joint Development Assessment Panel in June.