A new childcare centre catering for 79 children in Rochedale South, which is being considered for a narrow cul-de-sac, is facing strong opposition by residents and the local councillor.
Fielding Drive residents and Division 1 Cr Lisa Bradley have opposed the development’s application.
Logan City Council said “Cr Bradley does not support this application” and that she has written letters to residents informing them of the application.
“Cr Bradley strongly encourages interested residents to lodge formal submissions with council about this application,” the council spokesperson said.
Resident Steve McCoy has questioned how the centre could be considered for such a narrow street, which is already difficult to access and easily clogged by school traffic from Rochedale Road.
“The main problem I’ve got is where are all these people going to park?” he said. “It’s only a little cul-de-sac.”
Under than plans, Fielding Drive would become the main access point for the centre, which is problematic given how narrow it is.
“As it is, we have problems getting out of our street during school hours,” Mr McCoy said.
He said the street also becomes a makeshift drop off point for parents and students attending St. Peters Catholic Primary School.
“There’s restricted parking in the street between 2pm and 4pm, because if they park a car in the street, they can’t get a car up the middle, that’s how wide the place is,” Mr McCoy said.
Raina Shanal, whose parents live in the street, said the proposal is in the “wrong spot”.
“I know the difficulty of turning into Fielding Drive in the peak hours and I know the difficulties of coming out from there,” she said.
“Through the years I’ve noticed the traffic has grown because we’ve got so many along Rochedale Road in such a short distance from each other.”
The street’s low-residential zoning classification permits a childcare centre to be there, given it falls within the scope of a small-scale infrastructure supporting community residents.
Residents also pointed out whether there was a need for more childcare centres, with two already located along Rochedale Road.
Under the planning act, council must allow the application to be considered.
When the council handed down its annual budget in June, Mayor Darren Power said it is not up to council to regulate the distribution of services such as childcare.
“If we start getting into regulation and reducing businesses then people will accuse us of removing the competitive nature of businesses, so we don’t get involved in that and we can’t,” he said.
“Our charter is in planning, and if people want to apply for a development application, we’ll have to address that under the planning regulations that the state sets us, we can’t restrict businesses coming to the city.”
