The City of Vincent has roundly opposed the proposed upgrade and widening of Charles Street in North Perth which could see around 100 homes and businesses bulldozed.
The plans by Main Roads, which are in an early stage of conception, included three 'duck and dive' intersections.
Traffic heading north and south would go underneath the intersections while pedestrians, public transport, and local traffic would travel above.
While the City of Vincent has the ability to object to plans for its suburban streets, Main Roads and the state government would make the final call.
One councillor at Tuesday night's meeting, Jonathan Hallett, described the Main Roads concept as "frankly shocking".
"It further entrenches a reliance on cars with all the climate and health impacts it entails, as well as dividing neighbourhoods and destroying homes," he said.
"[The proposal] should never have seen the light of day in 2022 and so too was the approach to consultation and the communication with the city."
City wants urban design study
Another councillor, Alex Castle, described the plans as "flying in the face" of almost every city policy — which was to prioritise the environment, pedestrians, cyclists and residents over cars.
The city is calling on Main Roads to conduct an urban design study before going any further to determine the impacts the design and construction would have on the community, environment, and heritage buildings.
Charles Street is an arterial road in inner Perth that connects North Perth with the Kwinana Freeway and Wanneroo Road.
It runs through the bustling North Perth community and is often congested with traffic.
In a bid to improve the street — which all parties agreed required significant investment — Main Roads designed a solution which included the installation of three 'duck and dive' intersections.
The planning study suggested the bypasses for the intersections at Vincent Street, Scarborough Beach Road/Angove Street and Green Street/Walcott Street/Wiluna Street.
For this early vision to be made possible, around 100 properties — 70 residential and 30 commercial — would be acquired and knocked down, mainly around the 'duck and dives'.
Main Roads said these plans were in their infancy, subject to change, and community consultation would continue.
They believed it would make the street more accessible for active and public transport.
'Toxic concrete river'
Local resident Carlia McCallum has been a vocal advocate for North Perth residents.
She said the Main Roads plans in their current form would create a "noisy heat island".
"It will basically be a toxic concrete river right through a community," she said.
"Main Roads said it will make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists to get around but it will still be a 60-kilometre-an-hour road.
"It's going to be a giant community severance."
Ms McCallum said something desperately needed to be done to improve the street, but the idea from Main Roads did not make sense for the area.
"The duck and dives could be quite useful … but for this neighbourhood road, I think it's overkill," she said.
Some residents already planning to leave
Some City of Vincent residents have pulled out planning laws, researched the links between car pollution and physical health, and learned about urban design in a bid to make detailed submissions to Main Roads.
A group of interested residents plans to hold a community meeting at the end of November to discuss what a futureproof urban design may look like for North Perth.
Though there were a range of views within the community, residents told the ABC their main concerns were house values plummeting, reduced accessibility to schools and parks, and increased noise and air pollution from cars.
Andrew Main is a resident who has lived behind Charles Street for the past 30 years. If these plans go through, his neighbours will have to sell up, and his backyard will be 25 metres from what he calls a "freeway".
Mr Main said the plans would have such a negative impact on his family, he was already looking at leaving.
"I'm really now looking at moving," he said.
"I just think it's quite heartless for the government to be putting such stress and anxiety on people. Their homes will now be on borrowed time."
Mr Main would like to see Transport Minister Rita Saffioti intervene, like she did with plans for widening of Guildford Road in 2017.
"Put a hold on this project," he said.
"There needs to be proper consultation to come up with different options and better explain the rationale here."
Consultation extended and encouraged
Following lobbying by the Member for Perth John Carey, the public consultation period was extended by a month until December 31.
In a statement, Mr Carey — a former mayor of the City of Vincent — said the extension was needed so residents had longer to make detailed submissions.
"As always, I'm very happy to meet any local residents on this issue by calling or emailing me," he said in the statement.
Main Roads executive director of planning and technical services Doug Morgan encouraged the broader community to comment on the designs, which he said were very much subject to change.
He said it was a medium-to-long-term proposal that would likely be commissioned by a future government.
Land would not be acquired until construction began in around 15 years.
"This is not the end of the process," he said.
"It's really just the start of a fairly long planning process to really provide for the future for this route."
