A developer is proposing to create an industrial estate at the western end of Civic Parade at Altona, raising concerns from Galvin Street residents living opposite.
Town planning company MacroPlan Dimasi, acting for Axcell Management Services, has applied to Hobsons Bay council to create 58 industrial lots, known as Enfield Industrial Estate, at 37-77 Ajax Road.
The estate’s eastern boundary – Lot 55, which is 6.6 hectares – faces homes in Galvin Street and the north-west corner of Mount St Joseph Girls’ College.
A traffic report by Cardno, prepared for the applicant, anticipates the development “could generate up to [about] 350 vehicle movements during the peak-hour period and therefore up to [about] 3500 vehicle ovements per day”.
One resident, who could not be named for work reasons, said there was a paucity of information about what kind of industrial development was being proposed.
“At the moment it’s just an open paddock,” he said.
“Morally, council shouldn’t be allowing any sort of industry in that pocket. It is purely a residential street.
”Now, our purely residential street may have to share it with light industry and we don’t know, no one seems to know, what the hell it is.”
The resident said no one would be able to police industrial traffic using Galvin Street to access the estate.
A report prepared by MacroPlan states that a buffer zone is proposed between Lot 55 and Galvin Street homes.
“A large allotment (Lot 55) is proposed at the far eastern end of the subdivision, which will interface with the established residential area and Mt St Joseph school located along Galvin Street,” the report states.
“This allotment has been designed to incorporate required buffer areas in a future development proposal.”
Applicant, MacroPlan manager Paul Beatty, said the land was “appropriate for any sort of industrial development”.
“There are no uses that are actually lined up for any of it at the moment,” he said. “It’s purely just a subdivision.”
A 21-hectare reserve, south of the Altona rail line, is also proposed as part of the new subdivision.
The proposal is being advertised by the council for submissions.
