Speed bump on Eat St

Council requests more information on Anzac Ave food precinct

PLANS to turn a section of a lower density-zoned neighbourhood block on Anzac Ave into “Eat Street Harristown” have hit a speed bump.

Toowoomba Regional Council has issued a 13-page information request to the developer of the proposed sixtenancy food and drink outlet proposal on the corner of Anzac Ave and Devine St, listing a number of issues the council wants addressed before it considers the application.

If the application was approved, the stretch of the Gore Highway between Stephen and Devine Sts would feature just one house, after a childcare centre and another three-tenancy eatery were also approved.

Harristown Childcare Trust is responsible for the development application, and is already building a childcare centre on land next to the proposed “Eat Street” precinct.

Suitability of location, suitability of proposed uses, and the development’s compatibility with the Anzac Ave freight corridor are all issues raised by the council in its information request, in addition to 12 other points.

The council said the proposed development was “considered to be inconsistent with the intent” of the low-medium density residential zone.

Harristown Childcare Trust has also been requested to “demonstrate how the viability of nearby centres including the Major Activity Centre for Clifford Gardens and local and district centres, will not be undermined by the proposed development”.

The council officer who wrote the information request also said “the proposed development may be inconsistent in this location because of additional traffic and congestion caused by the development on Anzac Avenue from turning, slowing, entering and exiting traffic”.

The developer has been asked to show how they would minimise traffic impacts on the function and operation of Anzac Ave.

The council has granted the developer an additional three months to respond to its information request.