Moriah College Redevelopment

Dear Mr Gotsis,

I have been given your contact details by Andrew Stewart, who has been co-ordinating the Queens Park residents' response to the Moriah College redevelopment.

I own and live in Queens Park which about 200 metres from the Queens Park Road entrance to Moriah College.
We (my family) have lived in our house for 20 years. Over that time we have experienced a deterioration in traffic conditions and general amenity in Alt Street. This deterioration is due directly to students, teachers and parents of Moriah College, using Alt Street for parking, for picking up and setting down, and as a thoroughfare to get to Birrell Street.

The current level of disruption is already unbearable and for Moriah to apply to increase this, well, it just beggars disbelief.
Moriah College claims that the students, parents and teachers have been informed to not disrupt residents. It can only be said that this strategy has failed miserably - these users carry on with a couldn't-care-less attitude.

Queens Park and the surrounding area is already struggling with Moriah's impact from traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. There are many times when fleets of buses hired by Moriah are parked on Baronga Road waiting to pick up and set down - there are serious safety issues with this practice which have never been addressed, and will only worsen.

Moriah must to look to establishing campuses in other locations to handle their needs.
Queens Park is choking now. Don't make it even worse.

Thank you for your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

please see attached EES response on the EIS (dated 19 Dec 2019 and EES BDAR waiver recommendation report response - dated 6 Nov 2019

TfNSW and Roads and Maritime Services merged together as one organisation on 1 December 2019. As such, please be advised that a joint response has been submitted by Billy Yung and Mark Ozinga of TfNSW.

Please find attached a letter in Objection, Ashton St Petition, and two photos showing chicane damage.

See attached.

See attached.

I am writing to express my strong objection to the project. It is enormous, ill-conceived and a blight on the local environment.
Specially my main concerns are:
1. The school population and density are already past capacity when you compare it to other similar schools in the area. There are already 1680 students! Logistically, the school and the local area can not support such a massive increase in scale.
2. The new parking and traffic projections are just that, projections. The school has a culture to drive over taking public transport – despite being close to a major transport hub. Large numbers of the older students drive and park and in the local streets up to 1km away from the school (often jostling with each other at speed for spots). The new students (mostly early learning) and teachers will almost certainly drive to the school. The proposal will result in major increases in traffic. An independent and unbiased report is necessary.
3. The size of the building along Baronga Avenue is simply gigantic and will be an imposition on the park area. It is twice the height of the LEP. This has not been addressed in the submission. Surely this is grounds alone for pure rejection.
4. I note that in the submission there is a statement that.
“In accordance with Waverley Council DA Consent 86/193 the Moriah College Swimming Pool, Gymnasium and Auditorium are made available for general public use”
This is a falsehood and sadly a common theme for the school. No genuine efforts have been made in my 15 years living in the area to make these available to me or my family. For example, even for kids swimming lessons.
5. I note that there will be an underground carpark. The Queens Park, Centennial Park area is a known underground water course. Disrupting this flow and quality of water could have adverse effects on the local environment and foundations of neighbouring houses etc.. Due consideration is required in the design.
6. The school of 1680 currently has a few tennis courts and basketball courts as leisure space. As a result, I have observed that the school, on a regular occurrence uses Queens Park free of charge for sporting activities, without booking and paying for the privilege. Adding more students and teachers will only increase this trend.
7. The view from Queens Park has not been shown. Currently you can see the surrounding greenery of Centennial Park. I suspect that that this will be lost, with the view replaced by a gigantic concrete blast-wall. The design itself of the blast wall is not sympathetic to the local area.
8. The increased shading of Queens Park due to the scale of the buildings is not acceptable. The Covid-19 period has shown the importance of such public facilities. Queens Park had thousands of people using each corner of the park everyday and in no way should these areas be negatively compromised. Existing parkland needs to be protected at all costs.

The school population will be too large if this project is approved and goes ahead. There is not enough physical space on the school site to comfortably cater to a student population of this size. As a teacher at Rose Bay Secondary College I am experienced with an extremely large and overcrowded school. Movement in the corridors and stairwells between classes will not be practicable and will result in crowding students. Additionally the local streets cannot cope with the drop off and pick up as it stands. They are at a standstill at these times already. I drive through this area to drop my daughter off at her grandparents house on Alt St in Queens Park. A trip that should take 5 minutes takes between 15 minutes and 30 minutes in the morning at this time. I also know that many students park in the streets around the school. I believe that they are not permitted to do this but do so anyway. I notice that more bicycle spots are provided but students do not ride to school. They either get dropped off or drive themselves. I notice that the support rate for the original submission was 53% while the objections stood at 45%. I would be interested to know how many of these supporters were local residents. It is my opinion when driving through the area each morning that the majority of students to not live in the area surrounding the school. I say this because of the number of students being dropped off by car rather than walking or cycling. I therefore presume that the supporters are those that send their students to the school. In this case they will not feel the negative impacts of this gross overdevelopment and expansion of the school. I feel that the residents of the area who are largely opposed to the expansion should be heard and it would be a gross mis-justice if this expansion goes ahead.

As a local resident, I strongly object to the scale of the development for the following reasons:
1. Traffic in York Road and surrounding neighbourhoods is already at capacity, and could not accommodate more cars/students/drop-offs/parking.
2. Students park in surrounding streets, taking up space from local ratepayers and causing disruption - more would worsen the problem.
3. Expanding the school will increase traffic hazards and danger around the school region.
4. The proposed buildings will detract from the aesthetics of the areas, ruining the Queens park landscape.
5. The building expansions will detract from the natural surroundings, and could contribute to depreciating house value in the neighbourhood.
6. The school is large enough already, and imposes enough culture and visual impact, including the presence of armed guards and heavy security.

My objections/comments are:
1. Moriah College is a limited site already at capacity, and York Road is at capacity at peak times. The Scots College and SCEGGS Darlinghurst have absolute caps on school populations, as increased school numbers and increased traffic are unacceptable. Moriah College currently has 1,535 students and 286 staff. High Schools at a size larger than this are usually viewed as too large, too impersonal and somewhat unmanageable. A maximum student population cap of 1,680 has been established, yet the School indicates its proposed future numbers being 1,960 students and 315 staff. PLEASE ENFORCE A PERMANENT LIMIT OF 1,680 STUDENTS.
2. Moriah College is NOT CONVENIENT to major transport hubs, with the Bondi Junction bus/rail interchange being approx. 1 kilometre away. The suggestion that students be encouraged to travel to school by bicycle is far-fetched given the present traffic conditions. All too often a single child is driven too and from the School, and it is almost impossible to control this. HENCE THE NEED NOT TO INCREASE STUDENT NUMBERS BEYOND THE 1,680 CAP.
NOTE: I have no objection to Moriah College improving its facilities. My objection is to increased student numbers and the implications thereof.

I object to the revised proposal for a number of reasons. I have reviewed a number of the amended reports and make the following comments which should be considered by NSW Planning.
- The controls allow for maximum height of 8.5 metres. The proposal is at least 2 storeys - 6 metres above this. You have controls - follow them and remove the additional two storeys
- the amendments on height are laughable. They have reduced the height by a foot. 30 cms. The visual aspect from Queens Park should be protected for all that come here and local residents. The scale and reasons for the increase are not supportable or needed.
- the traffic jam created by the School already is dangerous and should be rectified without any further increase in density.
- the commentary around use of public transport would be interesting if more students use it. The School is already too big. If they want to grow - do it somewhere else.
- the reports include commentary on the support for the expansion of the School. Most of these people are not local so why is their input even relevant. We are the ones who have to deal with the current abomination - not them. If you took away comments from parents of students you would have next to no positive submissions - so what is the point.
- This site never contemplated the current size of the School - so don't make an even bigger eyesore.
I implore you to have a Public Meeting and then you will really hear from the people who believe this development is too big, not required and can be resolved by the School finding another site to split the Primary and Secondary Schools which most Private Schools do.
R
Mike Stratton

Objection to the Moriah College Development SSD-10352 EXH-2931

Note: The objections to the development overwhelmingly came from local residents.
The supporting submissions overwhelmingly came from people outside the area.

Bike racks are a furphy. I've never seen a cyclist enter the school. The school is addicted to car transport which places an enormous burden on the streets and parking in the area. And I believe it will continue to do so.

I don't understand the role of the Moriah College Consultative Committee now.
It seems redundant given the ability of Moriah to ignore any decisions they don't agree with. The changes to the role of the MCCC are wrong and should be reversed.

The Moriah Traffic Plan: No mention of enforcing the plan. Has this been sidlined?
I have attached an earlier version of the plan which is significantly different to the latest plan. Of particular note is the removal of the College staff to not park in the Queens Park residential streets. This has a huge impact on the traffic in the area and should be reversed.

Use of the school pool, gym etc: (appendix G) This is not correct. I have tried to get access to the pool and have been told to contact the private operator. The private operator then tells me access is not allowed. Please explain how access is possible.

Visual Impact and Overshadowing – onto Queens Park and Centennial Park: The document justifies the significant visual impact and overshadowing by saying it is less than the original DA. This is like saying a 200 storey building should be approved in Bondi Junction because the DA has been reduced from 210 storeys. I don't understand this argument.

Security Guards – Imposing nature of the boundary wall and security guards. Recent developments are that Security Guards are now more active than before. They are now a very visible presence in Queens Park while the students play there. They are also shining torches into cars parked around the school area in the mornings before sunrise. This is intimidating behaviour should be stopped.

Overshadowing of the ESBS: This has been done at 9am in July. This should also be done from 8am in July as well as 9am in December/January. Logic would show that the reduction of total sunshine to large areas of the ESBS is significant. The statement saying "The majority of the ESBS (to the west) and Queen’s Park (to the east) receives unobstructed sunlight." is very misleading. This is justification to allow a deprivation of light to a minority of the ESBS. If this is done every time Moriah submits a new DA (and they are coming think and fast), then eventually the whole ESBS will be deprived o sunlight for the majority of the day.

Visual Impact: The visual impact will continue to be substantial. There can be no argument here. The original images as seen from Queens Park show the buildings dominating the western section of Queens Park. The amended plans don't appear to change this at all. The earlier DA document represented that the visual impact to the eastern end of Centennial Park would not be significant. You only need to stand in this part of Centennial Park and look across to the school to where the new, large buildings will be to realise this is totally incorrect.

What teeth does the traffic plan (TTPP) have?
This has been changed over time.
I have attached an earlier version, as well as the more recent one.
As you can see from the two attached TTPP docs this has changed over time.
The first one includes staff in the exclusion zone for parking, dropping off etc.
The second one has introduced a second map for parent drop offs, and excluded staff from the exclusion.

The result is that our streets are getting filled by staff.

Landscaping at the school. In previous DA submissions Moriah has committed to maintain landscaping around the school to reduce the visual impact of their unattractive buildings. This has not been done especially along Queens Park Road. This should be enforced for future development and they should fulfil their past promises along Queens Park Road and other roads.
The size and bulk of this development would be a blight on the attractive park-like nature of the area. This is totally out of character for the area and should be rejected.
Student number increases: The school’s impact on the traffic in the area, especially in the residential streets of Queens Park is already unacceptable and very significant. The school has given no real commitment to adhere to its original traffic plan which I’ve attached. They have even watered down this plan to its current form which now allows the significant school staff to park in the residential areas of Queens Park. The impact of this is huge in taking up the parking in the area as well as introducing substantial traffic flows. My numerous traffic surveys have shown the large number of breaches of the Moriah traffic plan on a daily basis. This includes parking in the residential streets, dropping off and picking up of staff and students in the exclusion areas etc etc. This is all in contravention of the Traffic Plan which Moriah has developed and agreed to. Albeit they are trying to water it down now.
A comprehensive, independent traffic survey needs to be done asap to measure the lack of adherence to the traffic plan. Moriah is misleading the community and the Department by including the traffic plan and suggesting they abide by it. The overwhelming evidence is to the contrary.
Road modifications: any considerations for road modifications needs to be done in consultation with the local Queens Park Precinct Committee as has been done previously. The impact on the local residents is most significant and it would be outrageous to make changes without consulting them.
Document 1:
Moriah College Traffic and Parking Plan -TTPP
[revised November 2017]
The current Plan approved by the College and Waverley Council calls for compliance by the College, including staff, students and parents, with a set of rules of significance to Precinct residents. These include:
• Parking , stopping, dropping off or picking up children is not permitted on either side of Queens Park Road or on any of the streets adjoining Queens Park Road (Alt St, Denison St, O’Sullivan Lane, Manning St or Newland St.) either during, before or after school.
• Parking across driveways or Double Parking is not permitted.
• Parents are actively discouraged from using private transport to drop off and collect students and are encouraged to car pool when they do so.
• All students arriving by private transport are required to use the established “go-with-the flow” and internal ring road facility both of which have prescribed rules set out in the new plan.
• Students may only cross Baronga Ave. and Queens Park Road at the designated pedestrian crossings.
• Only Year 12 students are permitted to drive to school and they must register their vehicle’s number plate with the College to do so.
• The no parking zone for students in the Precinct is clearly described on the approved plan as: [away from the area bounded by Queens Park Road, York Road, Birrell Street North and Bourke Street east]
Complaints about non-adherence to these rules may be made by residents to the College:
Details of approved methods can be found on the website of the College under ‘Contact Us-Complaints section, (http://www.moriah.nsw.edu.au/Contact-Us) viz
Email: [email protected]
Telephone (24 hour): 02 9375 1660.
Written correspondence to Chief Operating Officer Moriah College c/o PO Box 966 Bondi Junction NSW 1355
The current approved Plan of Management for the College sets out the basis for the TTPP and specifies how the College must record details of all complaints received. All such will be provided to the Council and periodically to the ongoing Consultative Committee meetings with the Precinct representatives. Parties lodging complaints or providing feedback to the College need not provide their names if they do not wish to but should specify the nature and timing of the matter in question.

This will greatly disrupt York Road traffic at peak times and push traffic into our 'quiet' residential streets via 'rat runs'.
The school is already too large for the site and its location. Any further increase is totally inappropriate and a second campus must be considered if they feel they must expand yet again.
Centennial park is for everybody not just parents picking up their kids using the new pedestrian crossing.

I would like to object on all the points I have previously raised.

Dear Director,
This letter is to object to SSDA 10352 for the reasons outlined below. Under current conditions, a large amount of traffic enters the College travelling south from Birrell St, entering the College via one of the three gates. Streets running North to South between Birrell St and Queens Park Rd/York Rd are heavily affected by the Colleges traffic travelling from areas north and north-east of the College. Ashton St, in particular, as the only non-40 km/h street is worst affected. Every morning, from about 07:30-08:30, cars speed through Ashton St, in an effort to save 100 meters of road, and sometimes around 30 seconds of waiting, at the intersection of Birrell St and York Rd. A significant number of these cars travel over the speed limit and some at reckless speeds. There have been a number of “near misses” involving local residents. Resident observation and recording over a period shows there are between 90-105 vehicles from 07:45-08:30AM Monday to Friday alone. Concurrently, many of the residents are using the street – including Ashton St’s 30 or so pre-school aged children being put in cars, and school-aged population travelling to school by foot, by bike, or by car; and about 40 local residents heading to work. Residents fear a tragic incident like those in Hurstville and Epping this year were children were struck and killed involving school traffic in local areas.
Almost 100% of these vehicles have a Moriah College car queuing number displayed, or a Moriah uniformed student in the car. In addition many learner drivers (identified by their Moriah uniform) have been witnessed stopping the car mid street, not bothering to park safely before switching the driver position with their parents.
As part of the development proposal, we would like to see Moriah College commit to a plan where students are encouraged to walk/use public transport to get to school. It concerns me that despite the close proximity of Ashton St to the College, I constantly see students from Ashton Street being driven less than 500m to school.

I object to SSDA 10352 on the basis outlined above.

MORIAH COLLEGE REDEVELOPMENT – MAJOR PROJECT 14741
I strongly object to this development as a resident of Queens Park for the following reasons:
1. Traffic congestion is already a major problem particularly between 7:30am and 9:30am and later in the afternoons. There is an almost continuous flow of traffic blocking local streets at peak times generated by student drop-offs and pick-ups.
2. Moriah College has failed to manage its own Transport, Traffic & Parking Plan (TTPP) for a long time, evidenced by the number of students, parents and staff vehicles parking daily in local streets contrary to its own TTPP.
3. Moriah College night-time events are frequent, attract large numbers of people and use local streets for parking. This will only worsen for residents if this proposal is approved.
4. Pedestrian safety risks and general road safety risks will escalate as a result of the increased traffic in local streets.
5. Noise and air pollution in our local streets will increase due to more traffic and people, and as a result, noise will increase and air quality will reduce.
6. The streets of Queens Park are becoming ‘traffic sewers’ which is impacting friendly interaction between neighbours, resulting in a decreased sense of well-being, community, connectedness and security.
7. The visual amenity of Queens Park and Centennial Park will be adversely impacted by the sheer size of the proposed new buildings.
8. 3 weeks, especially in the busy lead up to end of year for local residents, is grossly inadequate for informed responses to the proposal, which contains nearly 1600 pages of complicated text and diagrams – more time is needed.
9. The ripple-on effect of the increase in traffic, congestion and pollution will extend to many residents who have not been notified of the proposal and who deserve the right to be informed and to comment.
10. The ‘Near Neighbour Letter Catchment’ was inadequate and needs to be significantly expanded so that all impacted neighbours are aware of Moriah’s intentions.
11. Queens Park residents would like Waverley Council to conduct their own independent and public traffic survey so that all stakeholders can better understand the impact.

After my initial objection and seeing the new DA plans for the college, I cannot see one solution to the ongoing traffic that currently occurs and will increase once this DA is passed. The changes add so minor it’s quite offensive for a long term local of the community that none of our concerns have been addressed. I suggest moriah take a look at other campus options so they can increase their numbers However keep the community of queens park safe and acknowledge the congestion it currently causes. We are not against development however speeding cars down local streets being used as a rat run is a concern and we hope this is addressed. It’s a2 way street - excuse the pun.