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State Significant Development

Determination

Loreto Normanhurst School Redevelopment (Concept Proposal and Stage 1)

Hornsby Shire

Current Status: Determination

Interact with the stages for their names

  1. SEARs
  2. Prepare EIS
  3. Exhibition
  4. Collate Submissions
  5. Response to Submissions
  6. Assessment
  7. Recommendation
  8. Determination

Concept Proposal for 10 building envelopes including increasing the student cap from 1150 to 2000 students with detailed consent sought for Stage 1 works for boarding accommodation, car parking, through site road and student cap to 1650 students

Attachments & Resources

Notice of Exhibition (1)

Request for SEARs (2)

SEARs (1)

EIS (51)

Response to Submissions (23)

Agency Advice (9)

Amendments (52)

Additional Information (15)

Recommendation (4)

Determination (4)

Approved Documents

Management Plans and Strategies (50)

Community Consultative Committees and Panels (3)

Notifications (2)

Other Documents (6)

Note: Only documents approved by the Department after November 2019 will be published above. Any documents approved before this time can be viewed on the Applicant's website.

Complaints

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Enforcements

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Inspections

18/05/2022

Note: Only enforcements and inspections undertaken by the Department from March 2020 will be shown above.

Submissions

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Showing 41 - 60 of 158 submissions
Sadie Daoud
Object
Normanhurst , New South Wales
Message
I write to voice my objection to further development of Loreto Normanhurst.

I cannot believe this is being considered! The congestion around the school is already ridiculous….Buses, parents, students and now they want to have more!!! I already spend approx. 10minutes most mornings trying to get out of Osborn St to go to work. This is our only access road out! The week days and weekends are fraught with cars parked everywhere!!! I have even had to call the police on occasions where our access has been blocked by inconsiderate drivers. We do not need any more traffic in our narrow streets. Please reconsider this application with long suffering residents in mind.
Forbes Murray
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
I strongly object to the above application due to the increased traffic that will be created by the close to doubling of the students and staff.
The traffic situation is at extreme levels as it is.
Then on top of that the school wants to have a child care centre that with children and staff will add approx 90 people .
Due to the massive increase in traffic that all of this will create at peak periods, this proposal is totally unacceptable, until the school finds a way of handling this increase that does not just pass the problems onto other neighbouring streets and schools.
James Phimister
Object
NOrmanhurst , New South Wales
Message
I object to this proposal in its current state.

I am a local resident living in xxx Normanhurst.
My concern and objection over the above development is in relation to local traffic flow and parking.
Currently on school sports days and big event days and now with a proposed bigger school, parents and guests park in Currawong ave, a small (in width) street where only 2 cars can pass at a time.
Parents and guests sometimes do not follow the signs posted and park each side of the street allowing for only 1 car to get through and it is dangerously tight. In the past the road has been blocked for a time. I have been unable to exit towing a boat.
I struggle with my larger car (I have to close my external mirrors) to get through and it banks traffic up at both ends. An Ambulance possibly may not get through or a Fire Engine would definitely not get through. As well as deliveries, vans and trucks etc.
I have previously informed Loreto of this. They have ample room to open the oval up on the Mt Pleasant side away from the school and allow parents and guests to park for those events. Loreto have in the past opened the oval up for parking but not often enough to correspond with big events. Loreto’s argument is it’s the parents parking illegally rather than them, which may be true BUT they are only parking there because of a Loreto event.
Enlarging the school will severely exacerbate this. If Loreto want to build the school up they need to work better with local residents and Traffic control before a major incident happens.
I, probably like most local residents see part of a large oval as a solution to this problem (and future problems) that is not being utilised. OR make it residents only parking on the surrounding streets.
The other issue where a better traffic flow would help is if a right turn arrow is added to getting back onto Pennant Hills Road from Osborn Road. This should really be an additional right-hand turn lane. Waiting up to 4 sets of lights in the morning to turn right only creates anger towards the school. More students will mean more parents dropping off and only one set (and ever only one set) of poorly timed traffic lights.
Thank you for considering this objection.
Craig Willis
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
I Object to the above proposal
As a parent of 3 former students of this school, I am dismayed to see how this school has conducted itself in its ever increasing greed and disregard of its place in our community. Not that long ago I considered Loreto a good Community neighbour
The negative impact on the amenity & safety of the surrounding residents now has no bounds.
The Loreto swimming pool opens at 5.30, bringing streams of traffic down Osborn Road from 5.30am. This traffic attributed to the pool with the “Learn to swim” classes continues 6 days a week.
Multiple garbage bins located at the bottom of the Obsorn Road Carpark are noisily collected from 5.00am, on 2 weekday mornings. This never fails to awaken me.
Early morning sport training brings more traffic from 6.50am. Food and other supply delivery trucks are also frequent at this time.
Opposite my house, where recently a grassed hill with trees bore a pleasant outlook, has now been replaced by ugly (permanent) demountable buildings. Lighting around these structures stream light into my bedroom all night.
Traffic and parking issues are constant reminders of our big neighbour. Traffic snarls and long delays are commonplace during drop off and pickup hours, Saturday Sports, the annual open day and the biannual Fair day. Trying to leave Osborn Road during these times is very difficult. More recently, there are many parent Forums now taking place within the school on week nights, clogging up our available parking when we return from work. Adding to this is the safety issue of the constant stream of pedestrians attempting to cross Osborn Road to reach their parked cars on this and surrounding streets. The surrounding streets, Currawong Avenue in particular, see cars parking in such a way that severely restrict traffic movement, let alone emergency vehicles.
These are issues that affect us NOW.
Looking through this proposal, I see little if any attempt to relieve the current issues, let alone the heavy impact a 75% increase in student numbers will bring..
I understand Hornsby Council is presently considering the D/A for an Early Learning Centre for 80 Children. This development must be considered with conjunction with the Early Learning Centre. I note that this is a stage one proposal, and as such, quite probably the thin edge of a large wedge. The building envelope as I see it is totally inappropriate for this residential area.
I propose no solutions to any of these issues as I am so strongly opposed to any increase in building works and student number increases.
Scott and Christine Marshall
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
We wish to object to the proposed development at Loreto Normanhurst where we understand they are proposing to increase student numbers from 1,250 to 2,000. Our objection is based on the following:-

- Increased traffic to both Osborn Road, Mount Pleasant Avenue and surrounding streets which are already clogged on current student numbers.

- Longer queues and waiting times when exiting Osborn Road to Pennant Hills Road.

- Increased danger to pedestrians particularly children from Normanhurst Public school nearby and the elderly.

- Escalation of access problems are already evident in Currawong Road Normanhurst where Loreto parents/visitors park during Saturday sport, weekday afternoons and other various functions throughout the school terms. During these times local residents in Currawong Road, Rivertop Close, Nepean Avenue and Dunbar Close have difficulty accessing or leaving their properties. This is due to poor parking practices which can leave Currawong Avenue blocked. Also of concern is access of emergency vehicles to resident’s properties, during these periods, should the need arise.
Ray and Freda Oslington
Object
Wahroonga , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Ian Cowell
Object
Normanhurst , New South Wales
Message
Attached is my submission for:
SSD-8996 Loreto Normanhurst School Redevelopment (Concept Proposal and Stage 1)
My submission details my objection to three aspects of the proposed project.
1) Traffic and Pedestrian access
2) Street Scape
3) Absence of a Student Management Plan
Attachments
Bruce Ridley
Object
Normanhurst , New South Wales
Message
1. The Notification of development.
It is extremely frustrating and downright infuriating that there was absolutely no notifications of this development proposal sent by letter to all residents in the surrounding streets, all of whom are grossly affected by this proposal, even if something was sent to a few, because Osborn Road is the sole exit for an entire region of residential streets . I understand an attempt has been made to excuse this evasion by a claim that some essentially trivial notification was apparently inserted in a local paper. This is nothing more than a ploy to keep the whole duplicitous exercise secret.
Our local papers are randomly delivered, sometimes not delivered at all, and casually tossed on to the street when they are. Even if one happens to land near one’s property, quite often they soaked by rain, or run over by cars, and are hence totally unreadable, and are simply dumped in the recycling bin. As a method of notification of important matters of any sort, and an important development in particular, this is a total farce. Nor was there any serious attempt at street signage - if there was any, it was carefully hidden.

2. This development is also quite inappropriate for several other reasons.

The whole area is one of one story, one and a half or at the most two story houses. This development will tower over the general street-scape, and even worse is on the top of a rise, to the comprehensive detriment of the entire area. To merely say that this proposed six storey building is not an appropriate addition is being polite. This so-called ‘development’ would be better called a barbarous degradation of the entire area.
Also, this proposal will create an extremely high density school population within very small school grounds, in what is supposed to be a low density living area, and that is totally inappropriate.
The total number of students at the school appears to have increased significantly with time, despite various DA approvals which were supposed to cap the school population. I remember reading one lot of documents submitted with an application some years ago, in which a so-called traffic consultant said there were no traffic jams at the Osborn Road - Pennant Hills Road junction!!! The plain fact is that there are long queues and very long waiting times anywhere near school commencement and departure times.
Always provided one can traverse the length of Osborn Road without running into somebody or something, because Osborn Road is ridiculously narrow for the traffic it has to take, and because cars owned by final year students are sloppily parked, and also because of large, wide vans and tradies’ trucks parked in places where they shouldn’t be at all, given the width of the street.
The Osborn Road parking problem often spills over into Currawong Avenue, which is so narrow that there shouldn’t be any long-term parked cars there at all, and the parking of big vans and tradies’ trucks should have been be totally prohibited long ago. In both streets, with traffic going both ways, the path of any one car is often a zig-zag path, into and out of driveway spaces or gaps between parked cars, vans or trucks, to allow the oncoming car, van or truck through, and the whole process repeated at the next obstruction, or vice-versa, for another car, van or truck.
The Loreto organisation has never bothered to consider what worry and at times damage their delivery truck traffic and bus traffic does to their local community, and the increased services this proposal for a high density facility will make things far worse. The bus traffic is often terrifying, appears near murderous.
Even worse, the Loreto organisation has already shown their complete irresponsibility by taking an unfair advantage of the limited parking conditions in the surrounding streets, to accommodate the flood of cars for which they are responsible, and then virtually ignore the need for onsite parking. This parking situation has been an issue for years, for which Loreto dodges all responsibility, despite the fact that it is wholly and solely generated by Loreto. During school terms and events all traffic flow is severely impeded, and the obviously clear streets during school recess drives home the point. Of course, that is the time when “consultants” and “certifiers” visit the site to write reports. In my opinion something like a four-deck car-park building is needed.

All the problems of Osborn Road and Currawong Avenue, which feed a whole network of residential streets, in part have their origin in Government decisions decades ago. These decisions were made in order to make the reconstruction of Pennant Hills Road as cheap as possible, dirt cheap in fact, and also to stifle whingeing from the Department of Community Services, which ultimately resulted in the complete closure of the Nepean Avenue access to Pennant Hills Road.
What was then called the DMR had a good plan on paper, which provided for the curve in Pennant Hills Road to have a much greater radius, and hence much better visibility. in the vicinity of all these residential streets, and which would have allowed a left-hand merging lane out of Nepean Avenue, and an adequate exit lane going in. Presumably much the same for Osborn road and probably Mt. Pleasant Avenue. A small strip of essentially useless land at Normanhurst Public school would have been used for part of the road, and in preparation for the remainder, the DMR had purchased certain properties seriously affected, in particular one on the north side of Pennant Hills Road, which was to be demolished. While the government pussy-footed about the cost of the whole project, that house had been used by DOCS as some sort of “half-way house”, and they howled and whined about giving it up. So that plan was canned, and we now have a much sharper curve, with restricted vision, which has caused a number of accidents, and sadly killed some people.
So with main road access hopelessly restricted, this project will cause a mess beyond description. The situation will become so bad that ambulances and/or fire trucks will never get to their destination, and somebody will die, or somebody’s house will burn down, as a result.
Judy Grayson
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Margaret Hatfield
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Hanne and Jorgen Christensen
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
We object to the above application because the increase of students by 750 will have an impact on:
• Traffic
The increase of more than 60% of students will result in an increase in number of teachers and other staff and will have an exponential impact on the existing level of queues.
At peak hours the waiting time at the traffic light is at present so long that the lights often shifts four times before we can exit. It means at least 12-15 minutes of waiting time.
Traffic on Osborn Road is not only from the school but also from people living in Nepean Avenue, Currawong Avenue, Wendy Avenue, Rivertop Close and Dunbar Close.
On top of that the activity level has already been increased by the pool and oval being used for other purposes than Loreto’s own athletic and sports events outside school hours (evenings and weekends).
• Noise level
It is already unacceptable because of extreme volume of loudspeakers and whistle noise from increased sports events.
• Additional construction intentions and plans we have heard of
o Additional boarders’ accommodation
o Additional child care plans
o Underground parking under oval
Based on our previous experiences with construction of the pool building, additional class rooms, landscaping and building extensions and renovations – we fear the unhealthy impact from dust, noise, heavy trucks and car exhaust will be very dangerous health conditions for school kids and neighbours.
***
Ideas for limiting the impact of suggested extensions:
• Increase the number of lanes in Osborn Road to at least FIVE lanes
(3 out-lanes and 2 in-bound lanes).
These 5 lanes will diminish the queues at the traffic light.
• Traffic light at Mt Pleasant Ave to take part of the load from Osborn Rd -
synchronised lights to improve traffic flow on Pennant Hills Rd.
• Increase parking space at Mt Pleasant Ave.
• Reduce noise level by installing volume limiters on loud speakers.
One of the reasons for our objection is the non-cooperative attitude of the school towards the neighbours. The information and caring level for other people were very high when we moved to Osborn Rd in 1988. We now get almost no information and have experienced offensive language (an example: 5am in the morning we were woken up and in a very angry tone told that we had to remove our car standing on Osborn Rd. The school had big trucks coming with new classrooms and free space was needed to make the delivery. It was NOT our car‼ We were scolded in a very nasty manner (an apology has never been received).
If we complain about noise level nothing happens. Once the level was so loud that we called the school to ask for them to turn down the volume. We explained we were having a very important phone call. – Our call to the school was unsuccessful!
In the future we would love to experience the ‘old’ caring communication style. We used to get friendly information about unusual and noisy things that might happen – so we could plan to be away from home (fairs/last school day etc.).
Moira Hutchinson
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Mark Westcott
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Meredith Shipway
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Robert Zorzetto
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
My submission is an objection to this proposed development as per my previous objections that have been registered in the past as too the path greed with which Loreto is embarking on.

The matter of objection is not one that is being grieved by myself but the sentiments of many a resident not only of Mount Pleasant Avenue, but those of Osborne Road, Nepean Ave, Currawong Ave, Rivertop Cl., Wendy Ave and Dunbar Ave. All the previous developments by Loreto have impacted upon this community and our objections “have fallen upon deaf ears”!

Loreto has no intention of addressing the issues that have been put forward as objections to any of Loreto’s development proposals; nor will Loreto’s contractors abide by any conditions or restrictions stipulated upon any approval. As a resident of over 30 years Loreto will undertake whatever means it can to achieve the end goal. Loreto did this when it had the pool/gymnasium and theatre development take place; Loreto broke conditions and restriction and the manner and purpose for which that development was approved for.
While many submissions to DA/1227/2018 were made about the traffic problems, Loreto verbally agreed to consider the problems as part of the Loreto Master Plan. I’m certain that there will be no consideration made here let alone for any action to take place on Loreto's part..

The Loreto Master Plan should work to resolving the residents’ concerns.
If this is not possible, then the development should not proceed. If the approval is to be given for Loreto to proceed then it should be a condition of the development approval for Loreto to provide infrastructure and traffic flow procedures within the school grounds that minimize the effects of the development on the surrounding residential community. A case in point: the existing drop off pick up slip road already exceeds its capacity and Loreto has not addressed this issue to date. Safely managed traffic is a “duty of care” on the school’s part towards the students, staff and parents of Loreto School as well as the neighboring residents.

Loreto has claimed, in the past, that it has minimally and negligibly contributed to any traffic issue or congestion within its surrounds and as school has now resumed, I invite you, the Hornsby councilors and any member of the adjudicating board to this development (SSD-8996 Loreto Normanhurst School Redevelopment (Concept Proposal and Stage 1) to visit the above neighboring streets inside the school hours to see how it is now; let alone once Loreto completes its MASTER PLAN (a total feeder system from the ELC to the Primary school then onto the Secondary
school)

My objections to the proposed project are:
• The poor Traffic and Pedestrian access to and from the school
• The nil address to the surrounding Street Scape
• The planned size of the school population
• Absence of a Safety Management Plan for the school population

Loreto is looking to create an entity to compete with Barker, Knox and Abbotsleigh and the lucrative fees that go with them.
Philip and Rosemary Tucker
Object
Wahroonga , New South Wales
Message
We object to the proposal as it stands. There is a total lack of consideration given to the physical and visual amenity of Mt. Pleasant Ave, Osborne Road, including the six linked streets, for the residents. We must remember that both Mt. Pleasant Ave and Osborne Rd are the only entry to and exit from Pennant Hills Road. Successive building initiatives by Loreto School have exacerbated the difficulties imposed upon local residents by the significantly increased vehicular traffic (as detailed in Ian and Janette Cowell’s Traffic and Pedestrian report to you).

The school will never be satisfied - there will always be a cry of - Please......can I have some more?

A swimming pool was built by the school on proviso that it was not a commercial venture but rather for the use of students only - residents were so promised. The pool is now a commercial operation with an open invitation to the general public to enrol in programs.

An early learning centre will be built on this site which will result in a large increase in vehicular traffic to and from this facility. The 80 student capacity plus teaching, administrative, support and cleaning staff, will result in additional traffic pressure.

In the plans there is a provision for a pavilion - a great asset for any school. What could this facility be used for - any number of student-based activities. However, would their interest in this resource be increased in future by commercial factors.

The school has proposed an additional 850 students to be added to the student population on this site, that is a total of 2,000 students. The school has outgrown the capacity of this site to serve the needs of the students while retaining at least some of the physical and visual amenity which had attracted residents to this area.
The school should look to other options to effectively manage its planned student population for example, complementary campuses.

Loreto School operates six days a week e.g. swim and sport (Saturday). Residents have noted the carelessness of visiting parents who park in and across driveways. Other activities involving increased traffic include - parent/teacher interviews, open days, fairs, student functions religious celebrations. Just today (28/01/20) hundreds of cars were parked on the school oval, school parking lots and Mount Pleasant Ave.

Traffic drop off and pick up will significantly increase in the number of cars and school buses bringing in students from elsewhere in Sydney. Given the increased number of senior students with licenses where will they park their cars?? The school’s promise on where these students would park their cars has not been honoured.

What is extremely concerning is the lack of accurate information given to residents. Some, probably most residents, do not know about Loreto School’s development proposals. When it is discovered that there is a proposal residents are then faced with a deadline to lodge a protest. When some residents do meet the deadline they are politely listened to by State and Local Planning Panels which then reject their requests for a hold on development at Loreto and traffic lights on the corner of Mount Pleasant Ave and Pennant Hills Road. One gets the feeling that we are being “duchessed”.

Residents have complained that Loreto School has not kept its promises, e.g. car parking for staff, students and others associated with the school, use of the pool etc.

With regard to this development proposal, Loreto School has displayed
- lack of information to residents
- lack of candor
- misspeaking
- inaccurate reports of traffic

The traffic report is seriously lacking in credibility. However, nothing ever happens to those who have provided inadequate and/or inaccurate information.

The proposed school has outgrown the current site.

See you again in 2 - 3 years.
Brian Cornish
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
I object to the proposal.

Osborn Rd and Mt Pleasant Ave, which flank either side of the school, already cannot cope with school traffic in the mornings, afternoons and sports and special days. The school already also runs a swimming pool for commercial purposes which increases traffic. It is unclear to me whether this or the ancillary traffic expected from a significant enlargement of the school has been factored into any traffic study.

We live at xxxxxx. Our driveway is opposite the second access gate to the school in the street. I am attaching photos taken at 8 am today, the first school day of the year.

There is inadequate turning space for a bus; in the picture, traffic is banking up around it. This restricts our access to the street from our driveway, sometimes for several minutes. The Osborn Rd / Pennant Hills Rd intersection and the third access gate to the school car park further down Osborn Rd are also congested at this time, as well as on weekend sports days and other special events such as fetes and dances.

These streets are only fit for residential purposes, not the traffic associated with a large school and cannot bear further traffic, let alone more than twice the volume which would be expected from a doubling of school enrolments which is planned in the longer term.

It is not appropriate to further restrict Osborn Rd residents' access to Pennant Hills Rd e.g. by removing the left turn at any time permission at the Osborn intersection. In any case it is unclear to me what is proposed in this regard. The traffic recommendations have been expressed in a hedging fashion.

Traffic studies could be constructed to support any development proposition. The overriding issue is that Osborn and Mt Pleasant side streets are an inadequate means of vehicular access to a large and growing school. They are only suitable for resident access.

The development planners should devise an entirely internal access way to the school which does not impinge on neighbouring residents e.g. entry and exit exclusively from Pennant Hills Rd.
Attachments
Helen Nancarrow
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments
Name Withheld
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
• DA/1227/2018 has been approved by North Sydney Planning Panel (2019SNH026).
• SSD-8996 Loreto Normanhurst School Redevelopment (Concept Proposal and Stage 1) is awaiting submissions by residents. The submission closure date is 31 Jan 2020.

I object to these proposed developments.

Size of the Development

The size of the development is very large and will tower over the street scape taking away from our street ambiance. Mt Pleasant Avenue is known as the best street in Normanhurst which is the reason why this street holds the record for the highest recorded house prices sold in the area. A one storey building would be more suitable and in keeping with the street ambiance and street scape with appropriate set back from the street, than the proposed development. This development would have a negative impact on the street.

Loreto’s aspiration to exploit the growth potential that the school is now envisaging by maximising every square meter of the small grounds it occupies so much so to the detriment of the street scape.
The proposed six storey building is not within keeping with surrounding residential bungalows and would dominate the street scape and would be considered another example of an “inappropriate development” decision.

The total number of students at the school has been increasing significantly over the years regardless of approved DA conditions in the past to cap school population. Currently there is a DA application with Hornsby Shire for an Early Child Care Centre for 80 children. The addition of SSD-8996 proposal of a 75% school population increase causes great concern as the pattern demonstrates that the school population will only continue at an exponential rate of grow, with or without the appropriate approval or monitoring.

This growth proposal creates an extremely high density school population within such small ground in a low density living area. This is totally inappropriate for this location.


The SSD-8996 is part of stage 1, which means there are many more stages Loreto has planned.
This is a major development in by “no through road” streets. It is the residents who pay the rates to council for the street, not Loreto. This is evident with the “zero” contributions Loreto has made to the street and street scape over the years, being zero. The Loreto redevelopment plans shows no contribution to the street, with no footpaths, no street lighting, no curb street appeal or planting of substantial trees to give the street the ambiance it is known for, or any effort to street scape or to soften the daunting development proposed for the street.

The size and scale is too large which has every resident in the street concerned and extremely upset about the Development.



3. Traffic – On street and off street parking and drop off

Traffic in the street is wrought with danger. The streets surrounding Loreto are all “no through roads" and are narrow; when cars are parked on either side of the road there is only room for one vehicle to move through. At no point in time is there any consideration for the delivery truck traffic that will be required to service this high density facility.

Loreto has always taken full advantage of unlimited parking conditions in the surround streets to accommodate their lack of onsite parking. The parking has always been an ongoing issue for which Loreto takes no responsibility, albeit that it is Loreto generated traffic and parking. Therefore all traffic flow is impeded during school terms and events.

This development needs to address the Loreto's generated traffic and street parking which will only get worst by this development making it impossible to enter or leave the street in a safe and timely manner. Alister Henskens SC MP Member of Ku-ring-gai states in his letter to a resident in Mt Pleasant that he is "well aware of the traffic issues in and around the school". There have been no solutions achieved to date with Loreto's other DA's regarding residents concerns about traffic and parking.

4. Traffic – Intersection

The intersection at Mount Pleasant Avenue and Pennant Hill Road is already rated “F” by the RMS. This means RMS considers it is Unsatisfactory, in a previous traffic study which Hornsby council is fully aware of and has this information. Post the traffic study, traffic has significantly increased on Pennant Hills Road and in Mt Pleasant Avenue with the increase in street population and development, with the Retirement Village Estate and expanded Nursing Home and SAN staff, housing block subdivisions, Loreto swimming pool traffic, Loreto high school student population increase, Loreto staffing increase, Loreto Primary School and all service delivery and trucks for the nursing home, Loreto school and residence domestic services and deliveries and all subsequent “Knock on effects” . I take little comfort in the traffic studies convened by Loreto which have been undertaken at strategic times to give bias support to their proposed developments.

Currently accessing and exiting Mt Pleasant Avenue is difficult especially with young inexperienced school student drivers and the elderly who live in the Retirement Village Estate, especially as there is no “keep clear” lines drawn on Pennant Hill Road to allow traffic flow in and out of Mt Pleasant Avenue when traffic has banked up on Pennant Hill Road. Commuters on Mt Pleasant Avenue have long been canvassing and requesting Hornsby council and RMS for these lines to be painted on Pennant Hill Road, only to be stone walled with “justifiable reasons” why we don’t need these painted lines, even though we are an unsatisfactory intersection. The need for lights at Mt Pleasant Avenue has also been proposed as a solution to solve traffic flow and congestion in Mt Pleasant Avenue and Pennant Hill Road without success. This all results in hazardous access and exit from Mt Pleasant Avenue to Pennant Hill Road and vice versa. The increase in school population with the adjunct of the knock on effect of increased traffic and parking will render this intersection a “black spot”, I just hope it’s not me!

Loreto should be obliged to provide infrastructure and traffic flow procedures within the school that minimises the effects of the development on surrounding residents. A case in point, the existing drop off pick up slip road has already exceeded its capacity. Safely managed traffic must surely be a duty of care towards the students, staff and parents of Loreto School.

Loreto's Master Plan should also work with solving the residents concerns about traffic and parking, and the need to plan more carefully the infrastructure and management procedures to support increase in student and staff numbers.


5. Traffic calming / safety

Traffic calming and safety are issues of great concern to resident and people using Mt Pleasant Avenue with the continual increasing of traffic and car parking congestion which reduces the dual carriage way to one. Strategic car parking bays and speed humps would greatly prevent all the near misses and car side swipes which are all too common in Mt Pleasant Avenue. The proposed development will increase the traffic and parking burden and therefore increase the already hazardous and unsatisfactory traffic and parking situation in the surrounding “no through” roads.


6. Noise

The proposed Development will have an Acoustic impact. Currently the noise generated from Loreto has been managed on an individual basis where residents ring up the school to turn down their PA, music, generator noise, sports whistle, screams and horns, etc. For Loreto events which have the potential to generate unacceptable noise (and other inconveniences like traffic and parking issues) Loreto usually gets around these issues by sending out notices to residents, usually twenty four hours or more, prior to the up and coming event.

The proposed development will just increase noise and noisy events. Acoustic barriers like the ones on highways would be a solution to and keep noise down to an acceptable level. Acoustic noise has long been a problem between Loreto and the residents with no appropriate barriers to mitigate noise pollution which has grown as the school continues to increase the student and school's population. The proposed development increases the school population thereby increasing the current noise levels.


7. Street scaping / landscaping

In all of Loreto’s developments over the past 25 years, I have not witnessed any street scape improvements on their side of the road, in either their DA proposals or voluntarily. Over time Hornsby council has allowed Loreto’s parking problems to park on the verge in Mt Pleasant Avenue, compacting the dirt and vegetation and preventing vegetation from growing. One day Loreto started putting gravel down on the verge, to prevent cars from being bogged, until a resident complained and put a stop the this activity. The street scape is severely compromised as is the vegetation and the substantial trees by the Loreto parking on the verge. The proposed development continues with the same lack of zero contribution to the street scape and street ambiance, with no improvements scheduled for Mt Pleasant Avenue. Loreto has resources greater than the residents and should contribute to the street scape even to provide safety for their customers, students and employees with appropriate street lighting, pedestrian crossings, footpaths and curb and guttering. Because there is no street lighting or footpaths on Loreto's side of the street student generally walk on the road which in itself is extremely dangerous.


Conclusion

For these reasons I object to the development. Please keep me informed about how this progresses.
Andrew Geary
Object
NORMANHURST , New South Wales
Message
Attachments

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Project Details

Application Number
SSD-8996
Assessment Type
State Significant Development
Development Type
Educational establishments
Local Government Areas
Hornsby Shire
Decision
Approved
Determination Date
Decider
IPC-N

Contact Planner

Name
Tahlia Alexander