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Dear Mr V Aleidzans

Re:      DA 598/2022/1: Mr Aleidzans:ahu

                        Wilberforce Ave Car Park Development

I am a customer at Rose Bay Village and am replying to the DA above.

I am immediately lodging an objection to the proposal and would like the period extended and project put on hold, so that we can collectively submit feedback. ask questions and then analyse the answers and more information that will be presented following these questions.

My reasons are outlines as follows:

Releasing the document / lodging application on 22 December 2022 when we are all dealing with the busiest period of the year and setting a deadline so soon afterwards when we are settling back into work and school etc, does not allow for us to overlook the details, meet and work on a response to the submission.

Why wasn’t this deadline shared months ago?

Notification Period : 25 January – 24 February 2023 is inadequate. The letters were dated 23 January which meant they weren’t received until after the Notification Period started.

Given this is at the same time as people are either on holidays or just returning from holidays and getting back to work and life, the timing is not enough for a considered investigation of the project.

I know most local businesses haven’t caught their breath following Covid and the disaster that was. This development needs to be the right solution for the area, businesses and locals not just the same old thing that is being done by others.

In a post Covid climate businesses are struggling to focus on anything more than their four walls. It is obvious the council hasn’t bought the businesses together to discuss and consult, so we have come together as a Rose Bay Alliance and need time to review and discuss as a group that has a lot to lose.

The lack of adequate consultation with business owners and locals is a real issue.  The letter dated 23 January 2023 states:

“Council will continue to explore funding options for the project. There will also be extensive community consultation undertaken during future stages of the project. As always, the best way to stay informed of future engagement opportunities is by signing up for Your Say Woollahra.”

I have not spoken to anyone who has been part of extensive community consultation. Who has the council consulted on this?

The council continues to spend our rates on things that are not aligned to the needs of the community. Case in point is the ugly green ‘playground’ for young children that is called public seating, it violates so many OH&S standards (too close to the road, gaps in the seats, sharp corners etc), is uncomfortable and not fit for purpose. The only people who use it as the kids who walk and play on as we hold our breath hoping they don’t fall off or into oncoming traffic. If the businesses in walking distance of this green wood thing would have neem consulted, they would certainly have immediately objected.

We still don’t have enough seating on the expanded footpath.

This example showed us that we need to look at and give feedback to all council projects that are directly affecting our businesses, the village and spending our rates.

We would like to understand more what is meant by, “Council will continue to explore funding options for the project”. If the funds are not available the design and project should be reviewed to match funds available. This is responsible fiscal behaviour.

Information on the site here states:

“A modern, efficient and generously proportioned car park providing more than double the existing public car spaces (207 compared to 95 currently), as well as 22 spaces for the new retail and community centre uses”

The community’s biggest requirement was for more parking. Spending  $28,826,432.00 (ref) and ruining local businesses, limiting local customers access to their favourite stores for 2-3 years and reducing the economic viability of the area to gain only 112 more spaces seems a futile effort.

The population growth by the time it is finished will mean that at least 200 MORE spots will be needed. This is not a future proof solution.

Surely there are better solutions that won’t stop access to the area and affect businesses and local’s lifestyle. What about mini van / transport solutions like BRIDG for people within a 5km radius? Development of the parking near Lyne Park could take the all day parkers and potentially charge for the service.

Is council looking at more tech focused solutions to identify vehicles that are parking too long and not allowing traffic to the village like Newcastle? Eg from 2018, click here to view.

Sometimes link doesn’t work when I click on the street address, on this page, to see the DA I often get an error message that no documents are found. It happens to many as well.

We fail to understand the brief of this project based on the drawings. We thought this was addressing the lack of car spaces in the area. We see more car spaces but there is a strip of ‘retail’ near the corridor and one rectangle of retail in the car park that seem superfluous?

Where do deliveries to these spaces get made without holding up car park traffic. There doesn’t seem ample space for them to be viable.

There is plenty of retail space in the village and often more than one empty store. There are plenty of other things needed in the area to focus on.

Experienced retailers know what is needed from a space and tell us this is not adequate. Looking at the drawing, thoughts on the retail space is as follows below:

A: Single Story retail in the corridor:

• Given the existing space as reference, this space would be just over a car space long:
  • What on earth would fit there?
• Where are deliveries made without holding up traffic?
• With constant passing traffic; noise and pollution, what type of retail would be there?

B: One lone retail space in the car park

• What is the point of this? Wouldn’t this be better as a trolley bay?
• Retail space in a car park always fails – one single stand alone will be even worse
• Where are deliveries made without holding up traffic?
• With constant passing traffic; noise and pollution, what type of retail would be there?

C:

• There are plenty of cafes in the village and more are not needed, perhaps there can be catering facilities or allowances in the space, or better still put the catering out to tender to the local cafes
• We need some community space that is adaptable and multipurpose:
  • Market space
  • All weather space
  • Kids
  • Elders
  • Music
  • Learning
  • Science centre

Looking at the proposed design, the first think many of us have said is that it doesn’t blend in with the village. We are a unique village by the sea, this should be reflected in any new buildings, especially public ones! In a world of designers, MANY located in the area, how is this office building the best submission?

This massive structure will darken Dover Rd and is not inline with the existing buildings in the village. We realise the new Rubenstein building overshadows the street and is an eyesore. We are adamant that we don’t want this to be the way forward for development in our village.

We would like to see what other designs were submitted. What was the selection process? Who made the final choice? What is their expertise / skill in this area?  I can’t find answers to any of these questions online.

We also don’t believe that the question of the management of increased traffic that was raised in the zoom meeting last year has been adequately answered.

Traffic at Newcastle St is already congested as it meets Wilberforce Ave.

We heard that parallel parking was going to be created in a few streets while this proposed project was going to be built, adding at least 100 spots. Why can’t this be a permanent solution and a community space be created near Lyne Park? Then a plan can be made for Wilberforce St Car Park?

Community spaces should be accessible, flexible and central. Not a little space crammed into a car park in the middle of an already busy / congested shopping village. The Randwick development is a standout case in point. This needs a lot more centralized discussion before it proceeds.

Will there be a centre management onsite? Who will be funding this? At what cost? What is the cleaning and maintenance schedule proposed?

The most important question is: What is the interim plan while building is underway? This is VITAL. What will be done to help locals and businesses when all these spots are lost, roads are blocked and access limited?

When parking meters were installed at Double Bay and the village was flooded with constructions, customers went to WBJ and Paddington. It was a wasteland for 5-10 years. It took customers a long time to come back and many lost their cherished businesses. We are not prepared to have this issue and loss. We know that high level thinking and action will avoid this issue.

Currently the workers on all the sites around the village are taking all the car spaces ALL DAY and nothing is being done about it. We would like to see this immediately addressed in any case.

We would like to see rangers enforcing the parking limits. We would like to see this enforced n many residential streets. We also need to see a charge made to builders for each vehicle attached to their site. Realistically, they will have people parking and this will have to be addressed, but not at the price of locals.

The infrastructure is lacking all around with roads and parking not being properly managed. Adding a building site smack bang in the middle will be a catastrophe and be at the expense of local business owners and locals.

This is a price, I and my neighbours are not prepared to pay.

In the zoom meeting someone asked if there was a better site for a car park, the council replied that they hadn’t considered that.

We agree the development of the car park opposite Parisi is a far more viable and realistic project to pursue. This is a corner block with better accessibility and feeds into streets not directly in the centre of the village and already heavily congested.

Moving forward, we want more consultation and more realistic lead times. In a shopping village with so little parking solutions must be developed not additional obstacles! Case in point is Collins St ‘Parklet’, we don’t need a park we need PARKing. In this exact space, business owners and customers are getting fines of hundreds of dollars to unload stock and pick up orders quickly. What is needed there is 15 min ENFORCED parking. You can achieve this with the tech previously mentioned other councils are using. This is what will help the village thrive. Not a parklet that only satisfies the demands of waterfront residents (who also seem to park there for hours without getting a fine).

We of course have sustainable, ecological & environmental issues are top of mind but that is down the track a little for now.

We would like a town hall ASAP with council so that business owners and locals can talk about all of this at the same time in one space.

Our Alliance are happy to help spread the word and get people to meetup. Customers and businesses are frustrated and angry and want to have this whole thing paused and reviewed.

We all look forward to more scrutiny of the plans for our community and working with council to ensure that our rates are well spent and our lifestyles and businesses maintained.

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Nancy Georges