Councillors in Melbourne's west have unanimously opposed the "blight on our community" that they say is the State Government's planned youth prison at Werribee South.
Wyndham City Council voted to oppose the construction of the centre on Tuesday.
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New juvenile prison planned site angers locals
Werribee South residents are outraged after the Andrews government announces plans to build a $288 million juvenile prison near the state-government-planned development hub, the open range zoo and the historic Werribee mansion. Vision courtesy Seven News Melbourne.
In a statement the council said the vote reflected "overwhelming opposition" voiced by residents, businesses, farmers and tourism operators.
Wyndham Mayor Henry Barlow said the community had been outraged that the decision to build a youth prison had been made without consulting them.
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Even the location maps for the 224-bed, $288 million facility were so stylised that you could not tell exactly where it would be built, Cr Barlow said.
"It is very difficult to understand the rationale behind building what will be an eyesore, at the gateway to our City," he said.
"Given the visibility from the freeway – every car that travels to the Bellarine or Great Ocean Road will also have a bird's eye view of six-metre high concrete walls."
"This centre is set to be approximately 750 metres from future residential communities and adjacent to the highly sensitive Werribee South market gardens.
"There surely have to be more appropriate locations."
Cr Barlow said other correctional facilities have more appropriate land use buffers.
Government estimates of up to 3000 jobs being generated during construction appeared grossly overinflated, the council stated.
Cr Barlow and Wyndham chief executive, Kelly Grigsby will meet with Minister for Youth Affairs, Jenny Mikakos, on Friday to state its opposition.
"This will be the first of many deputations we will make in opposition to the detention centre," he said.
"The State Government plans for a maximum security detention centre in Werribee South will be blight on our community – we are about building a liveable city for families and this contributes nothing toward what we are trying to achieve."
On Monday George Gigas, who lives next door to where where the facility will be built, told The Age that his community would not take the plans lying down.
"These people are like cowboys, there's been no consultation, nothing. It's awful for them to tread all over everybody and there's going to be a lot of trouble over this," Mr Gigas said.
Recent comments on the Point Cook Residents' United Facebook page were also highly critical of the suggested location.
"Why does every government think it's a God-given right to dump everything in the west? Build it in Portsea and see how they like it," Valentina Ross said on Facebook last week.
Another member, Marianna Costa said: "The west of Melbourne continues to be a repository for all Victoria's problems."
The government has been under pressure to combat a rise in riots in its juvenile justice centres over the past 18 months.
Fifteen youths escaped from the Malmsbury youth justice centre last month, while the Parkville centre was trashed last year, diminishing its capacity.