A sport with its origins in mediaeval times and newly modernised for the hipster era will soon set up stumps in the inner west – if the unusual business idea gets past the council.

Maniax axe throwing draws on the growing popularity of the unlikely urban sport across Canada, where the Backyard Axe Throwing League (BATL) has six venues and waiting lists of hundreds. According to BATL rules, contestants stand 5m from a target made of five planks of dampened wood and, in three rounds of five throws, score 1, 3, 5 and 7 points depending on where the axe head lands in the target's rings.

But while the activity appears to have captured the imagination of some potential Sydney hatchet throwers, one group is yet to be convinced.

Local residents have objected to a development application  that Steve Thomas and his three co-founders lodged in December that requests a change of use of the Mary Street warehouse space from a storage facility to a recreational facility.

"As a local resident living within metres of the venue, I am very concerned about drunken patrons throwing axes," writes one Mary Street resident in a complaint to council. Another takes aim at an unregulated "sport that is inherently dangerous".

A planning meeting on Tuesday deferred the decision until after a site visit.

The project has been a year in the making. Mr Thomas, an international pilot, and his wife, Lindsay Sharp, along with their friends Adam and Renee Schilling, started looking into the business idea after a trip to Ms Sharp's home  city of Toronto.

"We knew it wasn't going to be easy," Mr Thomas said of setting up Maniax. "It's a new concept, yes, but that doesn't make it bad."

Responding to neighbours' safety concerns, the founders have installed a gun safe to store the household axes, banned alcohol from the premises and have lowered the venue capacity from 70 to 45. They have incorporated metal cages around the throwing lanes into the fit-out.

"The gun safe is an extreme measure in our view, but we're more than happy to do that for the residents," said Mr Thomas, who plans to charge over-18s $50 for a three-hour session at the centre.

He said some protesters had erroneously claimed axes fall under the prohibited weapons act and that the company's motto was "Release the axe-murderer within you".

Instead, Mr Thomas said Maniax had adopted the best practices shaped by BATL over the past six years in Toronto to ensure safety is paramount in the "fun, energetic, social activity".

Correspondence from police underlined the need for CCTV, anti-graffiti measures, lighting systems and other procedural approaches, but made no mention of any danger posed by the hatchets, which are available from all hardware stores.

Marrickville mayor Mark Gardiner declined to comment, while a council spokesman noted the proposed use was  "permissible" and was  being assessed within a framework of planning controls.

Maniax has been fielding booking enquiries from groups, including a team bonding session for 25 insurance executives. Mr Thomas said that neighbouring businesses at the Mary Street precinct, which include a microbrewery and a coffee roaster, have been wholly supportive of the idea.

The council is due to vote on the application on May 12 and will conduct a site inspection in the next week. In the meantime, the Schillings have been hosting tournaments with friends on a target they have set up in their back garden.