hornsby shire council · removal of tennis courts. also, traffic report is flawed because it...

Hornsby Shire Council

West Epping Park Draft Plan of Management: Public Hearing

Client: Hornsby Shire Council

Date:

29 October 2014

Contact: Peter Brennan

[email protected]

93872600

Sydney

02 9387 2600

Level 6

332 – 342 Oxford Street

Bondi Junction NSW 2022

www.elton.com.au [email protected]

Sydney | Canberra | Darwin ABN 56 003 853 101

Prepared by Peter Brennan

Reviewed by Peter Brennan

Date 29 October 2014

Document name Public hearing report

Version final

1 INTRODUCTION 4

1.1 Objective of this Report 4

1.2 Background 4

2 PUBLIC HEARING 6

3 SUMMARY 19

4 CONCLUSION 20

Contents

4 Hornsby Shire Council Elton Consulting

1.1 Objective of this Report

Peter Brennan from Elton Consulting was engaged by Hornsby Shire Council (HSC) to preside over and report on a public hearing on 24 October 2014. The hearing provided the community with an opportunity to comment on the West Epping Park Draft Plan of Management. This report summarises the background to and results of the public hearing.

1.2 Background

Hornsby Shire Council has recently prepared a Draft Plan of Management for West Epping Park, which includes revised categorisation mapping for future management of the park, and an Indicative Master plan for the upgrade of the site. Council have committed to redevelop the site to include a synthetic sports oval for soccer and cricket, and a new amenities building. The Indicative Master plan also provides for improved parking facilities and vehicle circulation, a new network of footpaths to improve linkages in the park and to increase pedestrian activity, new children’s play facilities, and a public plaza space for community gathering, and informal recreation.

The Draft Plan of Management also provides revised categorisation mapping to enable future development of the park. The mapping categorises areas of the park as Sportsground and General Community Use.

This Draft Plan of Management will supersede the Plan of management for West Epping Park and Oval, which was adopted by Council in November 2004.

Public exhibition of the draft plan is required by the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act). The Act also requires that a public hearing be held and provides that the person presiding at the public hearing must not be (a) a councillor or employee of the council holding the public hearing, or (b) a person who has been a councillor or employee of that council at any time during the 5 years before the date of his or hers appointment. Peter Brennan, Project Manager of Elton Consulting was appointed as a suitable person who met the criteria of the Act to preside over the public hearing. The Act further provides that not later than four days after it has received a report from the person presiding at the hearing as to the result of the hearing, the Council must make

1 Introduction

Hornsby Shire Council Elton Consulting 5

a copy of the report available for inspection by the public at a location within the area of the Council. The Council must consider the report before making any decision about the matter to which it relates. The Draft Plan of Management was on public exhibition from 8 September – 28 October

2014. Submissions are to be made by close of business on 28 October 2014. Community Information sessions were held on 10 October and 11 October 2014. The public hearing was scheduled for 24 October 2014. The public exhibition and public hearing were advertised on Council’s website, in Council’s Administration Centre at Hornsby, Central Library at Hornsby, Branch Library at Epping, and the YMCA building at West Epping Park and on three occasions in a local newspaper circulating in the area (Northern District Times on 10 and 24 September and 8 October 2014). Owners and occupiers of premises in the vicinity were notified by letter.


Peter Brennan attended the West Epping Community Centre, Cnr Dent and Downing Streets, West Epping to preside over the public hearing The public hearing was attended by approx. 45 local residents and the following staff from Hornsby Shire Council: Kurt Henkel – Acting Manager, Parks & Recreation Phil Clegg – Landscape Architect/Project Manager, Parks & Recreation Denise Beaton – Administration Support, Parks & Recreation Councillor Michael Hutchence (Ward C) was also present at the meeting. Peter Brennan opened the meeting at 4.05 pm welcomed those present and made a short introduction as to his role and the purpose of the Public Hearing. A presentation was then made by officers of Hornsby Shire Council followed by questions from the residents present and some informal discussion before the meeting concluded. Presentation by Council Kurt Henkel, Acting Manager Parks & Recreation made a presentation in relation to the West Epping Draft Plan of Management and highlighted the following: » Issues considered in developing the plan;

> Existing car parking and vehicle access were surveyed by consultants. Currently 207 parking spaces on-site (including bowling club)

> Existing park arrangements and current usage

> Traffic

> Connectivity of the areas

> Population Growth in Epping (Redevelopment of Epping expected to lead to an increase by approximately 3000 dwellings)

> Recreational use / opportunities - Active and Passive

> Improved Landscaping

> Focal point in the park around the YMCA / Pre-school and oval.

» More detailed explanation of plan– including explanation of parking issues; access to the western car park could be either one-way or two-way; installation of speed humps; possibly gates to ensure area is closed of a night

» Extension of YMCA – Not currently funded but could be expected in the future

» Improve connectivity and access into the park.

2 Public hearing


» Pre-school holds a lease until 31 December 2019. The PoM does not propose to remove the Pre-school. Lease will be renegotiated with Council at the end of the current lease term.

» Oval size does not change. Possible additional use for five a-side-soccer

» Traffic report discusses possible implications of additional use

» Amenities building – public toilets/ kiosk/ change rooms to be provided independent of the YMCA

» Informal plaza /parklands area immediately north of the YMCA indoor centre/Pre-school.

» Removal of tennis courts in Grant Close. Additional car parking and Wetland area. Wetland aims to deal with flooding issues downstream and storm water run-off from park.

» Stage 1 works includes: Car Parking on western side/ Ovals/ Playgrounds/ Circuit Footpaths/ toilet facilities/lighting and drainage/storm water works

» Next steps – report to go to Council meeting on 10 December 2014; more detailed plan and future Review of Environmental Factors to be exhibited. Possible commencement of Stage 1 construction around June 2015.

Question time Following the presentation, members of the audience were provided with the opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback to Council Staff. Audience members were simply invited to ask any questions, or clarify any issues that they had. Outlined below are the key questions and issues that were raised during the hearing. Question 1 From reading the PoM, why is the YMCA lease not in question and the Pre-School lease is uncertain? Concern expressed over the tenure of the Pre-school. Response » Both YMCA and the Pre-school have leases. YMCA lease has been renewed for 20

years; Pre-School Lease will be reviewed at the end of 2019.

» Council is currently reviewing all subsidizations of pre-school facilities in the shire, and

will provide clearer information once decisions have been made.

Question 2 What is the purpose of the public hearing? What happens if the plan is opposed / where concerns are raised? Response A report from the independent facilitator will be provided to the Council based on the issues raised at the public hearing. Council are required to consider the report, together with any submissions made prior to adopting the plan.


Question 3 Does Council have the final say in what is happening? Can Council do what it likes with that land? Does the area have to be rezoned? General concern that the public gets what the YMCA wants and the general community are not having a say in what happens. Response » The PoM explains what the categorization mapping allows for (General Community Use

and Sportsground proposed for WEP). Land is zoned Open Space which allows for community buildings and park use as proposed.

» Facilitator explained this public hearing is designed exactly to let the community have

their say, and all issues will be raised in the report to Council. Facilitator stated that Council is required to take into consideration the concerns raised and all of the community submissions.

» Councillor Hutchence explained that Council is using the hearing to tease out the

problems of the site, and what is best for the community. 3000 new dwellings are proposed for Epping, with more planned for Carlingford and Cherrybrook. Council wants to plan its public open space for the next generation of residents. The plan is a strategic view and not a’ fait accompli’.

Comment from Local School Council Member - Traffic and parking conflicts are a major issue, and needs to be addressed on behalf of the school. Raised concerns about safety issues around car parking. Question 4 Major concerns about the provision of parking in the location proposed. There are other locations in the park for parking. Opportunity exists to upgrade the park instead of building a new car park. Can a lollipop lady be used to control traffic for example? This proposal creates problems with flooding via incorporation of synthetic oval, and requires removal of tennis courts. Also, traffic report is flawed because it hasn’t taken into account the bowling club parking. The proposal introduces through traffic. Response There is an Addendum to the Traffic report that considers the bowling club car park. Question 5 Spokesperson from dance school concerned about the car park as well, particularly for community hall. Concerned lack of parking close to the community hall makes this unsafe for children. Better to upgrade current hall car park and retain parking close to the building.


Question 6 A Masterplan prepared by Robertson & Marks has been posted through letterboxes – is this valid or an old plan? Response This is an old plan, commissioned by the YMCA and published in local papers in 2013 and was not prepared by Council. It was explained that Council plans now supersede this. Question 7 What will be done to protect fences along the boundary of Downing Street? Response This is a matter of detail and could be solved by kerb and gutter edge to car park or raised concrete wheel stop and hedge screening to be provided in space between edge and boundaries. Question 8 Resident from Ray Road (Villas on north side of park). Says future proposal is great but has concerns. Currently existing oval is in the middle of the park and moving oval north impacts more on residents - issue re noise and floodlighting. Noise at 10pm from sports. Change/switch position of sports fields so that main oval is in the middle. Why develop a synthetic oval instead of grass? Response » Existing arrangements permit night time training with practice finishing at 9.30pm and

lights off at 10pm. PoM does not propose change to these current arrangements.

» Many synthetic ovals being introduced around Sydney, increasingly being used (ie for

hockey fields) as they enable sport training and game activities despite wet weather. Hornsby would like to install a synthetic surface as it will allow training throughout the year, including wet weather. Synthetic surfacing allows for more consistent use and enables a greater level use and does not wear out in the same way as grass. Enables existing facilities to respond to increased demands for usage.

» The existing ovals get very worn during winter, and require resting periods.

Sportsground is intended to accommodate the needs of existing sports clubs as well as a possible new 5-a-side soccer use. This is a strategic move by Council to get higher use from the land and offsets the need for Council to buy more land for sportsgrounds in the urban area.

Question 9 Does anyone understand the maintenance cost as compared to turf (cost/benefit analysis)? Sand and water are needed for maintenance; what is Council proposing


Response Council does not have a specific cost/benefit analysis for this oval; but is aware that synthetics allow additional use that is of benefit to Council in terms of maximizing use. Some additional maintenance required i.e cleaning, grooming etc. There are examples of where Councils have compared the capital and maintenance costs. Synthetic gives a better level of service. Question 10 Why is Council removing trees from the western side of the park for parking? (Concerns about loss of flora). Concrete doesn’t make the place safe, it makes it worse. Should be kept as green area. Question about the communications tower/posts and whether Council has to put in landfill? Response » Yes, there will be trees lost, but a stringent re-planting process will occur to offset the

loss. There will be a careful assessment of trees.

» Telecommunications towers will remain, they are leased from Council, PoM works

around them.

Question 11 Why is there more paving and concrete than green space? Response Council is proposing to reduce parking and hard surfaces. Current parking on-site is 207 spaces. Indicative Masterplan shows 201 parking spaces. Question 12 Many residents cannot make written submissions for health reasons – speaker invites Councillor Hutchence to do a door knock. Traffic Report does not allow for existing parking at the bowling club. Most residents impacted on the western side. There is an increase in car parking by 20%, more than the expert’s traffic report recommends. Why is council adding more parking? Report does not address fundamental community needs. The ovals are the same – Council is not improving anything? Keep the greenery, many people use it. People walk their dogs; school groups use it. Reduction in surface space for playing. PoM reduces what is currently available. Car parking is excessive. Concerned road will increase disturbance and crime. No improvement to the seating for the park. Plan needs to be re-done, and requires re-thinking.


Response When traffic consultants were briefed, the bowling club and car park was closed. An addendum has been added to the back of the report to account for this. At the moment there are 115 parking spaces in the old bowling club car park, 63 outside the school, 15 in Grant Close and 14 at the YMCA. Masterplan does not increase the numbers, it relocates them. Question 13 Bowling green’s area is now used for sport and parking therefore there is a net reduction. Response The Masterplan proposes an additional area provided for informal park use, playground and practice basketball courts. Park furniture is not in PoM as it is not a detailed plan. Extent of oval area for sport is actually reduced. Question 14 Pre-school services literally dozens of families, concern that lease is not renewed – for the first time in 50 yrs there is huge concern that the school is about to close at end of the current lease. Response » As indicated earlier, there is no proposal to change the lease on the pre-school. As

with all leases on Council land, the lease will be reviewed at the end of the lease period.

» Councillor Hutchence: Council is looking at how much pre-schools are being subsidised

by Council. Council is looking at all pre-schools in the Shire. We are not renewing because we haven’t made a decision. Council is looking on a shire wide level at whether it should be running pre-schools. This includes looking at reviewing its own services as well as pre-schools and state run facilities that Council subsidises.

Question 15 Resident and spokesperson for Pre-school states that it’s a disgrace that Council looks at making money from children. This pre-school has been accredited as one of the best in the State. Is the parking being designed for mums with prams? Area proposed is too tight for two-way traffic. Pre-school provided two formal written submissions by hand. Response Pre-school issue has been discussed, but comments will be noted. Council is looking at providing a footpath along the length of the car park to ensure safe pedestrian access between the car parking and the Pre-school.


Question 16 Local resident and user of the park: This is where everyone parks, and believes that more parking is required, not less! Is it possible to provide a kiss and drop for kids and mums at 9am and 3pm? Question 17 Worried and concerned that both the pre-school and the community hall will disappear . Response As stated, Council has no proposal to remove the facility in this plan, and will look at keeping the facilities in the future. PoM identifies what is existing and what community facilities will be kept in the future. Question 18 Concerned there is no access for service vehicles to the pre-school and community centre, and parents have to walk too far. Park area will be expanded on the western flank, no access for vehicles coming to the back of the school. Concerned fencing will be damaged (Downing St). Western car park will be bitumen; will there be areas for people to walk on soft surfaces? Where will people walk their animals? Alternative Masterplan design submitted. Response » Council will need to make arrangements for service access to the pre-school and hall.

Council Masterplan provides for a reduction in parking on Lilli Pilli Street at the YMCA to reduce congestion.

» Fencing, or kerb and gutters or barriers will be installed to alleviate these issues in the

proposed western car park.

» There will be generous areas of grass for dog walking in the southern area of the park

and the lower eastern portion of the park close to Grant Close.

Question 19 Can Area 16 on the plan be used for lease free dog walking? There should be an area set aside for unstructured activities. Response Request noted.


Question 20 User of area and president of pre-school and netball club - Concerned that one lease holder of Council is dictating the entire plan (i.e. YMCA). Most of green space dedicated to one leaseholder. Why is Council allowing one lease holder to change the entire park for the residents? How heavily subsidized is YMCA lease? Response Councillor Hutchence: YMCA contributed over a million dollars to improve the indoor centre. Council does subsidize to a certain extent. If Council paid for what YMCA offers, it would far exceed their costs. Question 21 Concern that distance from facilities to car park/footpath is an issue for pre-school users. Post December Council meeting, will residents get a chance to review the plans again? Will community have further opportunity to discuss detail design? Response This is a broad brush concept for the park. If Council do endorse the plan, further detailed designs will be worked up and exhibited. It is Council policy that a Review of Environmental Factors (REF) is publically exhibited for stakeholders and residents where members of the public are given the opportunity to comment. Question 22 Concerned the car park doesn’t work. Not wide enough for parking on both sides. May encourage ‘hoons’ into the park. How can this car parking work – too dangerous? Will there be lighting? Security issue at night. Issue with scale of proposal. Response Points noted. Lighting will be provided Question 23 Appreciates there is a need for more parking, but this plan provides parking too far away from the pre-school. Current plan does not address this properly. Have to walk through traffic to get to meeting points. Maintain as much green space as possible. Improve existing. Response Points noted. Question 24 Request for off-leash area to be provided. Thinks that it’s fantastic that Council is upgrading the park, especially the synthetic pitch. Just need to deal with the parking. Would like the park to be less structured and programmed, more flexibility.


Response Points noted. Question 25 Why can’t we put more parking in the lower area (Area 16) instead and green space left? Response Councillor Hutchence: » Council is trying to balance out parking and congestion within the area.

» Plan tries to balance traffic flow from different entry points.

Kurt Henkel: » In considering different traffic issues, the consultants responded quite firmly that

providing a connecting through road on the western side was the best solution to alleviate congestion. Alternative configurations were considered

» Not all parking should be along Grant Close (consultants thought it would be too

much). The consultants indicated that there is a need to discourage parking on Ward and Lilli Pilli. Alternatives are to provide parking and disabled access from Grant Close as well as connectivity for pedestrians to Mountain Street.

» Parking needs to be on the Western side. Intention is to discourage YMCA users from driving into Lilli Pilli Street. Access path from Grant Close to YMCA is intended to be included to improve access

Question 26 YMCA did not provide additional parking and footpaths to the areas next to Grant Close as per their DA conditions. Response Councillor Hutchence agreed that this was part of their development approval for the extension. Indicated that Council could not force the YMCA to meet their DA conditions as they ran out of money to complete these additional stages. Question 27 Where do the pedestrians walk into Mountain St – existing footpath is on other side of street to that shown on plans? (Mountain St Footpath is on western side where it runs into the car park). Better to have footpath on eastern side to link directly into the park.


Response Council will look at all footpaths in closer detail prior to finalising the design. One solution is that car park traffic is one way. Could involve identifying a safe crossing point. One resident has suggested to Council that the traffic running south is better than north. Question 28 Dog off leash areas should be provided as somewhere separate needed. Can dog off-leash areas be fenced off? Response Point noted Question 29 Resident of Grant Close: Number of cars allowed for on Grant close appears to be out of balance. This street is too small to take that many spaces. Will there be more landscaping when the detailed plans are produced? Would like to see more screening provided for residents. Response Points noted, more landscape will be provided. Question 30 There will never be enough parking. We need to discourage people from driving to school and parking. Response Point noted. Question 31 Downing Street Resident: Is the funding being spread across Epping or just this park? There are other parks around. Limited maintenance has been spent in this area over decades. Why not spend less on this park, and more on others? Response State funding received from Urban Activation Program is primarily to be spent on this park. Some additional money will go towards Epping Town Centre. Council spent good money buying the bowling club. This plan is about improving the facilities. Council will not be providing more parking than they have to. The traffic study projected additional parking spaces as part of the YMCA extension and park improvements. The purpose of this plan is to provide a park for the community.


New PoM shows 200 car parking spaces. The parking is not for the school, the school is a beneficiary. The parking is for park users. Existing parking areas do not meet current standards for parking areas. The Bowling Club is too steep, the pre-school is too narrow. PoM addresses these problems. Council will consider whether the parking layout is correct. More informal areas are being provided. Council is committed to providing new facilities. Question 32 Discussed future development. No attempt at maintenance on current site. Better fine tuning of existing parking can be done to improve congestion. This wholesale change is too much. Maybe should improve and maintain existing park. Too much change to ‘our little green corner’. Spend some money to improve small things. Response Point noted. Question 33 Mountain Street resident: Thinks redevelopment is great; main issue is the car park up at the top – is a waste of good green space. Wondering if Area 16 on the plans could be a car park? Can a through route be built connecting Ward and Lilli Pilli Street? Response Council did review this option, and it was not considered a viable option to improving traffic. Council has not made a decision about a one way street. Providing a road that is linked in such a way will be looked at further at REF stage. Question 34 Comment on loss of green space. Question 35 Comment - upper level car park - traffic flow should be south to north. Question 36 Why are we allocating a large amount of space/resources to the YMCA, when they do not have the money - and they cannot even provide the original parking they were supposed to? Response Council has undertaken indoor recreation demand studies and there is a desire to provide more indoor recreation space in this region, whether provided by YMCA or others. The Masterplan in the PoM proposes a solution to the issues of pedestrian access and parking.


Question 37 Is it possible to go up when the YMCA expands, instead of out? Or underground parking? Response Council will consider this. Question 38 Comment - surveyors in area were recently looking at roundabout. No footpaths to allow access to school. Response No, that survey has nothing to do with the park. Council will look at local footpath links to the school. Question 39 Complaint that a letter was not received in relation to the exhibition of the PoM, and not enough time has been allowed to review the plans. And at the end of this, that Council will decide what to do. Concerned Council has the final say, regardless of what residents want. Suggestion that current playground is moved and car park is developed closer to the school. Response Members of the public can talk to their local Councillors, not only the Council Officers. Question 40 Downing St residents did not receive letters until after the community information sessions. Response Council encourages all residents to make comment, regardless of when letter was received. Email Councillors. Council will not refuse late submissions. Question 41 Member of Epping Civic Trust: This plan is the greatest thing to come to this area in a long time. Simply not true those local residents were not informed. Plans were in the local paper on at least three occasions. Suggests that local residents cannot cope with such a new idea. There is a lack of appreciation by community that this is the greatest thing that will occur in a long time.


Question 42 Request - that no changes occur on Grant Close. Silent majority hope that Council will do the right thing. Don’t be swayed by the minority. Response Point noted. Question 45 Hornsby Shire has lost major amounts of indoor centres (squash courts) over time. Why expand this one? Response Point noted, although the Centre’s identified by the resident were all on private land, not Council land.


3 Summary

The major issues raised by residents at the public hearing could be summarised as follows;

» Tenure of the West Epping Pre-School and the concern that Council might not extend the current lease when it expires in December 2019.

» The amount of car parking provided in West Epping Park and the apparent increase in the number of car spaces provided.

» Traffic and parking conflicts around the drop off and pick up at the adjoining Epping West Primary School.

» The location of the drive thru car park along the western boundary of the park adjacent to the rear boundaries of dwelling houses in Downing Street

> The drive thru car park will attract unsociable behaviour and ‘hoons’

> The car park will result in the loss of valued green space and trees

> The interface treatment of car park and adjoining dwellings and protection of the dividing fences

> The car park is located at the high point of the park and will result in the loss of the best viewing place to watch sporting events on the oval.

> The car park is located too far away from the Pre-School and the Community centre

> Design of the car park and the need to provide safe pedestrian paths

> Lighting of the car park

> Bitumen surface to replace grass

> Conflict with pedestrians at the Mountain Street entry/exit to the car park

> Drive thru car park should be designed as one way. Should direction be North to South or South to North?

» Existing car parking including disused bowling club car park is sufficient and well located and should be upgraded so as to retain parking close the Pre-School and Community Centre.

» More parking should be located off Grant Close to negate the need for the drive thru car park on the western side of the park.

» Car parking should be fairly distributed throughout the park and not just provided off Grant Close.

» Adequacy of the Parking and Traffic Impact Assessment.

» Use of synthetic surface to the ovals and loss of natural grass surfaces

> Maintenance costs

> loss of natural stormwater infiltration


» Relocation of the main oval from the centre of the park to the northern side bringing it closer to dwellings and the resulting impacts from noise and light glare.

» Dog walking and the provision of an ‘off lease’ area.

» Too much change to the park and lack of maintenance to the existing park.

» Concern that Council will not take into consideration concerns raised by the residents.

» Concern that one lease holder (YMCA) is dictating the plan

> Indoor recreation extension will occupy a large area of green space

> Non-compliance with previous conditions relating to the provision of parking

> A large amount of space and resources being allocated to YMCA

» Notification letters not received or received late.

The meeting closed at 6.10 pm. Council is required to make a copy of this report of the public hearing available for inspection by the public not later than four days after receipt of the report at a location within the area of the Council. The Council must consider the report before making any decision with respect to the current review of the West Epping Park Draft Plan of Management.

4 Conclusion

hornsby shire council · removal of tennis courts. also, traffic report is flawed because it...

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