St Anthony of Padua Mod 1 - Staging and built form amendments

Response attached

Please refer to the attachment.

Please see the attached TfNSW response.

Please note the collective TfNSW submission (SYD17/01699/07) was submitted via the Roads and Maritime Services account in this instance. Thank you.

23rd May 2021

Director,
Social and Infrastructure Assessments,
Planning, Industry & Environment,

RE: SSD-8865 – Mod1

Attention: Karen Harragon
Austral Progress Association is concerned about the traffic congestion on Tenth Ave, Austral which has occurred since the residential land development in Austral commenced and considerably increased over the past 12 months. Tenth Ave is an unmarked roadway.
During peak times the traffic flow in Tenth Ave has been significantly reduced over the past 12 months. The increase in traffic congestion has been generated through residential land development in Austral, the drop off/pick up for Austral Public Primary School located at the corner of Tenth Ave and Edmondson Ave (whose student numbers are increasing) street parking to residential housing, RSL Lifecare - Tobruk Retirement Living and the RSL LifeCare - John Edmondson VC Gardens. This will further increase with the construction of a Doctors surgery opposite the entry to new St Anthony’s Internal access road. With St Internal Road accessed from Tenth Ave the traffic congestion will increase considerably when the access road is opened. If the access road is constructed through to Eleventh Avenue the traffic congestion on Tenth Ave may not increase so significantly.
Proposed Modification - No 4
It is noted there are ‘no changes to access arrangements’.
At the access gateway in Tenth Ave to the Internal pick up/drop off road can consideration be given to the Swept Path (of the longest vehicle entering and exiting) exceeding the latest version of AS 2890.2 to alleviate congestion and slowing of traffic flow at the access gateway.
Further, the Internal road construction through to Eleventh Ave be prioritised thus alleviating further congestion and slowing of traffic flow as the traffic re-enters Tenth Ave .
On page 5, 1.2.2. Existing Approval - “ it is noted the …..drop-off pick up connection through to Eleventh Avenue…..” is proposed to commence in Stage 3 2025-2026 with 1661 students by then the traffic effect and increase of traffic flow in Tenth Ave will have increased significantly.
Access, Internal Circulation and Layout - No 10
The approved access location from Tenth Ave is proposed not to change. Can consideration be given to changes in the access to and from the development that is extending the Internal road to Eleventh Ave.
An increase in the width of Internal road entry access at Tenth Ave would allow easier vehicular traffic entry and exit and avoid the occurrence of possible accidents.

Traffic Effects - No 13
As noted above changes to the access arrangements to and from Tenth Ave require consideration.
The increase in residential land development has increased the traffic flow on the surrounding roads of Fourth Avenue and Edmondson Ave not just Tenth Ave.
Fourth Ave is a major thorough fare from Bringelly Road to Fifteenth Ave for traffic including Heavy vehicles traveling in North/South direction. Edmondson Ave (running parallel to Fourth Ave) is intersected with two shopping Centres and a public primary school. The traffic flow on Edmondson Ave at the corner of Tenth Ave is very congested at peak hours contributed by Austral Primary School drop off/pick up in Tenth Ave, access to the Shopping Centre and increased traffic due to residential development.
Fourth Ave and Edmondson Ave are thorough fares for traffic travelling from North/ South, the nearest alternatives are Cowpasture Road to the east and Northern Road, Bringelly to the North.
In the Impact assessment page 55 7.3.2 Stage 1 works Traffic generation state ‘Colston Budd Rogers & Kafes have found that traffic flows for Eleventh and Tenth Avenues were omitted from the previous studies and find that based on the ILP land uses and road hierarchy flows on Tenth and Eleventh Avenues would be approximately 200 to 400 vehicles per hour two way at peak times.’ Tenth Ave ability to accommodate this given traffic volume is questionable given the limitation of the width and condition of the road without road works. Tenth Ave is an unmarked Roadway.

Road works – 14 iii)
In reference to ‘when enrolments reach 1150 students road widening works to be undertaken on Tenth Avenue … …..’ and Table 1: Provision of on-site car parking and drop-off and pick-up spaces which indicates the completion of Stage 1 at the end of 2023 with 975 students.
By the time enrolments reach 1150 students the ability of Tenth Ave to accommodate the traffic volume is questionable. Given the existing traffic problems and the future increase in traffic flow to Tenth Ave when St Anthony’s School Internal drop off/Pick up access Road opens an upgrade to Tenth Ave would be required well before the 1150 students is reached.
With the Internal Drop off/Pick up connection road to Eleventh Ave proposed in Stage 3 2025-2026 with 1661 students by then the traffic effect and increase of traffic flow in Tenth Ave will have increased significantly.
With the secondary effect of traffic congestion related to delays is the inability for parents to estimate travel time to school and work, the stopping and starting in traffic jams, manoeuvring vehicles through parked vehicles and traffic and the senseless reaction to traffic congestion – road rage. All these have a significant impact on teachers, parents and children lives and their safety, and emergency services access to Tenth Ave.
The Austral Progress Association Inc seek consideration be given to Tenth Ave roadworks commencing at significantly earlier date and student enrolments be below the 1150 noted.

Yours sincerely,
Elizabeth Habib
Secretary
Austral Progress Association Inc.

Notification of this modification was only provided to some organisations and resident a few days ago, giving very little time to study and digest the proposal and the modifications. This project is way to big for the location it is in, to place over 2000 student into a school, within this location is excessive. It brings with it the need for over 300 car movements (based on the plans), for not only the staff working at the school, but also parents dropping off students, meaning there would potentially be well over 300 car movements per morning and then again in the afternoon. Added to this is the need for at least 40 full size buses twice a day. This amount of vehicle movements twice a day, into what is already a very congested set of roads surrounding the school leaves it open to a very high potential for accidents causing serious injury.
Additionally, the works already undertaken by the school in relation to Eleventh avenue are way too inadequate, and the roads surrounding the school are too narrow, and then add the congestion that this traffic movement, along with the normal traffic from not only the residents travelling along these roads, but also the nearby Austral Public, this has a extremely high potential for serious accidents involving cars and pedestrians.
Even noting in the proposal, the installation of pedestrian crossing, does not alleviate this high risk, as the roads are too narrow to accommodate such a large volume of vehicles and pedestrians and reduced visibility, and these roads have no potential to be widened, due to the dwellings already present on these roads.
Already now, with not only Austral Public School, but also the current students at St Anthony's, along with residents, the roads are too congested, and people are at risk. On tenth Avenue, you have an Aged Care Facility, along with a fairly large retirement village, which contain a lot of elderly residents, along with those visiting these venues, which would be at severe risk due, to the large volume of traffic this will add to the already narrow and congested roads.
Also noted in the plans is a proposed Bell Tower, which from the plans is to be located on the Eleventh Avenue side of the school, which would then project across the school towards Tenth Avenue, and out to Fourth Avenue and Edmondson Avenue. The volume required from this bell, would need to be excessively loud, so as to project to all corners of the school. Due to the direction that the noise of the 'bell' is required to travel, this noise would impact upon the surrounding houses and businesses, including, but not limited to, the Aged Care Facility and houses directly opposite, along with the retirement village beside the aged care facility. This 'bell' would be constantly rang on many occasions through out the day, thus impacting on the peace and tranquility of the people living in the houses, the Aged Care and Retirement Village. This noise, and I have experienced similar set ups, is annoying and interruptive, impacting not only on sleep patterns, for people needing to sleep during the day (elderly and shift workers) but also the ability to listen to TV and Radio. No acoustics report can negate the level of impact this bell will have on the surround dwellings.
I have an elderly family member, who resides in a nearby dwelling, that is to be subjected to not only the noise from this 'bell' but also the cacophony of loud noise that would be generated by the sheer number of students that will, not only be coming to and from the school, but also during breaks in the day where they are on the courts near Tenth Avenue. Resident should not be subjected to the noise that such a large number of students will generate. No acoustics report can lessen the impact on residents, from the noise that is generated by such a large number of student, traffic generated by the comings and going to the school (particularly the buses using Tenth Avenue).
Also, residents should not be subjected to the risk to the health and wellbeing, from the noise and traffic generated by this school, and the sheer size of enrolments scheduled.
Additionally, this school was to be built in 6 stages, but in the modifications, it appears that this has been changed to 4 stages, thus reducing the timeframe for full completion. By reducing the number of stages, on such a large project, bringing in well over 2000 students, into what is in reality a small sized block for the quantity of student slated to attend, reduces the ability for the impact of the schools development to be monitored as it grows, and to be restricted when it is found that there is too greater risk to, not only the business and residents surrounding the school, but also the students themselves, from the sheer amount of traffic using, what is essentially roads that are too narrow to accommodate, what is already a high volume of traffic.
Any expansion from its current size, in light of the stages already built, along with the developments in the surround area and suburb, is already putting too great a risk on the lives of the people travelling through and within the area around the development. Too allow further expansion takes that already high risk of serious accidents to an even greater risk. All the roads bordering it, both Tenth and Eleventh, along with the two main roads through Austral, being Fourth Avenue (which borders the site) and Edmondson Avenue (which is only a few hundred meters from the site) are too narrow, and already clogged and cannot be widened, thus creating narrow corridors for cars to travel and pedestrians at risk of being struck (particularly the risk to the number of elderly resident and the young students that will be in the area, including from Austral Public.
This proposed development needs to be constrained to reduce the number students, thus reducing the number of additional vehicular movements generated by a school, with such a high student population, due to the risk to safety. Also, the school plans need to be adjusted to remove the impact on neighbours from the noise that will be generated by the school, not only by the 'Bell Tower', but also the number of student in the school ground generating noise during breaks, plus the volume of traffic (buses and cars) generating noise to a level that will severely impact the neighbours living and peace.

Please find attached EES response

The members of Austral Progress Association Inc have reviewed the URBIS Amendment Report and have no further comment regarding the traffic concerns of Tenth Avenue, Austral .
Further, we request an amendment to the URBIS Amendment report 7. Updated Evaluation and Conclusion and URBIS Submissions Report 5. Updated Evaluation and Conclusion Report and any other URBIS report on SSDA-8865 St Anthony of Padua Catholic College regarding reference of Austral Progress Association as a communist organisation. The second paragraph of Updated Evaluation and Conclusion states ..."concerns raised by government agencies, a communist organisation and one member of the public " ..... we request this be amended to COMMUNITY organisation as noted in 2. Analysis of Submissions in the report.

Austral Progress Association was formed in 1931 out of the local school P&C committee. It originally had a dual role, catering to the requirements of the Austral school and the broader needs of the local community. Following the formation of a separate P&C in 1936, Austral Progress Association has remained focused on representing and promoting the interests of the local residents and the Austral community.

Please refer to the attachment.