The Maxol filling station on the Lower Salthill Road intends to expand its premises with the addition of a new seated deli and an off licence but there are strong local objections to the plans.
Planning permission is being sought to demolish several existing outbuildings on the site and build a one storey extension to the filling station in its place.
The planned extension would include a food preparation area, new deli franchise with seating and a new off licence.
Other work involved in the development would include alterations to the existing store layout, new aluminium glazed shopfronts, rendered wall covering and corporate branding.
The filling station’s access point off the Lower Salthill Road would also be realigned and its boundary wall extended.
Maxol also plans to remove the current car wash facility facing onto the Fr Griffin Griffin road and replace it with a less noisy alternative at the north east of the station.
A Noise Impact Assessment was submitted to the council as part of this planning application which said that the noise levels would be “negligible and acceptable” alongside daily background noise.
A total of 23 submissions were made to the city council with different objections to these expansion plans that focused on traffic, parking, noise issues, and potential anti-social problems.
Several residents said that the increase in traffic this expansion would bring to the junction would be a danger to road safety with several schools in the area and large numbers of children walking and cycling to school.
It was also said that the expansion, especially the deli with seating, would increase the number of cars parking in the area for which there is already insufficient parking space.
Locals are also very concerned about the plans for a new off licence which they say will lead to an increase in anti-social behaviour in the area.
The developer submitted further information to the council disputing that assertion, arguing that alcohol will be displayed in unobtrusive area of the store and will be of minor size and scale.
The final main area of concern raised in the submissions is noise impact of the filling station car wash, with some objectors disputing the methodology of the Noise Impact Assessment.
The developer responded that the new car wash would be located inside a noise attenuation enclosure to stop noise from spilling off the site.
Galway city council is due to make a decision on the application by May 15.
