Traffic Chaos, Heritage Lost, Flooding concerns

Abergeldie design of how Sydney Road and entrance to Oval will look.

A public meeting to give locals the opportunity to hear from experts on the many major concerns relating to the Oval Car Park development application, will be held on Sunday (June 5) at the St Mary’s Parish Hall, Cnr Whistler and Raglan Streets, Manly at 2pm.  (More details here).
 
Arranged by the Save Manly Oval Alliance the meeting is expected to attract hundreds of concerned residents many of  whom have been fighting against the Manly Oval Car Park proposal since 2012.
 
“Save Manly Oval Alliance is seeking legal advice on how the process has been handled by the former Manly Council which pushed through this DA just days before the amalgamation was announced”, said President Jack Steggall.
 
“In the meantime we  have only until June 17 to lodge submissions against the many issues associated with this controversial DA”, he explained.
 
According to the Alliance, who are engaging independent experts to prepare reports on the various aspects of the DA, there are serious flaws with the oval car park plan.

PLEASE SEND IN A SUBMISSION - See Below for Key Points

How To Oppose Manly Oval Car Park Development Application
 
1.   Email your submission to:  [email protected]
2.   Quote DA 116/2016
3.   There is no set format for submissions. Cover the points that concern
      you the most. See list below for ideas.   Object to the DA and ask the
      Joint Regional Planning Panel reject it. 
4.   Include your full name and address for verification purposes.
5.   Submissions close 17th June – so don’t delay!

Independent Experts Have Identified the Following Issues:
Heritage

• Council's application for Development Consent asserts the building is not an item of environmental heritage, but Ivanhoe Park, including the Oval, is listed by Council as a local heritage item.
• The seamless green space of public recreation land of adjacent Gilbert and Ivanhoe Parks, committed for public use, will be ruined by above-ground concrete barriers along Sydney Road near the entry and exit to the commercial car park.
• Above ground lift towers, stair wells, gateways and a future cafe will intrude into the horizontal parkway green space. Elevated pathways above the entry and exit portal will also intrude into the horizontal landscape flow.
• Moving the Ozzie Merrett Memorial Gateway away from the main oval relocated to entry to the bicycle ramp, separated from the oval by the new public toilets.

 
Sports and Public Recreation

• The DA plans will jeopardise the uses of the oval. At particular risk is Grade Rugby because roadways and pedestrian pathway works will intrude onto the Oval concourse and cause the picket fence to be moved inwards at least 3 metres likely making the Rugby playing surface too small for Rugby.
• The cricket boundary will also be shortened to even less than its current short distance.
• The Oval's playing surface is likely to be compromised by a part concrete, part turf foundation.
• It is likely that the construction will actually require lifting the elevation of the playing surface of the Oval, because the DA allowances for depth of the car park are inadequate. An elevated playing surface and surrounding new constructions will destroy the amenity of the village green oval.

 
Public Safety

• The South Eastern length of the oval concourse will be narrowed affecting access by Emergency Services vehicles. This will remove a key access point for emergency ambulances, police and fire vehicles, thus putting public safety and players' safety at risk.
• The design of changes to Sydney Road create serious traffic safety risks. Traffic flow downhill heading East will be narrowed to one lane and confront a roundabout situation, with visual obstructions. Also the configuration of lane weaving, splitting and merging is hazardous.

 
Roads and Traffic Impact

• Unacceptable congestion and safety issues arise for Sydney Road from Belgrave Street, Manly to Fairlight. This is caused by unacceptably complex and dangerous entry and exit portal and tunnel on Sydney Road, the major entry and exit point to Manly. The loss of through lanes in Sydney Road, a roundabout, tunnel and walls create unacceptable line of sight visual and navigational driving hazards.       
                                                      

Roads and Traffic Impact cont.

• Traffic blockage knock-on effects will be even more widespread across Manly than are now evident on busy weekends in particular.
• Traffic will seek alternative neighbouring roads, such as Lauderdale Avenue and White Street, Fairlight Street and Griffith Street, Raglan Street and Birkley Road, more than those roads and their neighbouring roads are designed for.
  
  

Non Compliance with Mandatory Standards

• Several breaches of the Building Code of Australia, including inadequate distances inside thecar park to fire escape exits and ventilation. Also, unacceptable egresses from stairwells to roadways.
• The driveway and cycleway entries and exits to the car park are more than 200mm below the 1 in 100 year flood level, let alone the freeboard level mandated by the Manly LEP 2013, which is a further 500mm higher, so that in a severe rainfall event, the car park will fill with water, with consequent damage to parked cars and and the risk of drowning anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the car park. Public liability insurance will be impossible to obtain.

Environment

• The car park will have several exhaust emission vents. No analysis has been made of the health and environmental impacts of exhaust emissions from these vents. No analysis has been made of the noise impact of these vents on users of the oval and on neighbours.
• Forecasts of higher intensity storm and seawater surge events have not been taken into account. The likelihood of flooding and environmental damage from acid-sulphate run-off is greater than published in the DA.
• Increased exhaust emissions from the car park vents are not quantified plus extra noise and exhaust emissions from traffic blockage on Sydney Road are not quantified
• There will be significant underground water diversions, less natural absorption for storm water because of the size and impervious car park and its roof, creating unknown impacts on nearby buildings and infrastructure, and on the natural subterranean environment and trees.

 
Financial Analysis

• Costings and revenue estimates for the car park are seriously flawed and will be a significantly larger cost on Northern Beaches ratepayers.
• The total capital expenditure costs have not been published; the items excluded from the costing have not been identified or costed. The published cost of $27.8 million is inconsistently and significantly low compared to industry standards.
• The potential magnitude of financial risks from capital and recurrent over-spend to Northern Beaches ratepayers has not been investigated.
• Operating revenue estimates are grossly excessive and operating costs plus interest are grossly underestimated. This leads to an annual operating loss.
• No business case consistent with this DA for the Manly economy, particularly the retail traders, has been published.

 
Breach of DA Processes

• Council submitted two alternative plans for Sydney Road; one with a roundabout at Eustace Street, but another sent to neighbouring residents without that roundabout. Council must propose only one DA, not alternative plans.

 
For More Information go to:  Save Manly Oval Alliance.   www.SaveManlyOval.com.au