Amity College New School Campus

Please find attached EPA comments on the above project. The original has been sent in today’s mail.

Please see attached submission.

The Leppington Progress Association on behalf of the residents would like to make objections and comments with concern to the development application:
Amity College New School Campus at No.85 Byron Road and No 63 Ingleburn Road, Leppington NSW
Our objections/concerns with the development include;
Traffic Congestion
• With 1000 students and 83 staff the residents are concerned about the volume of traffic that will be generated before and after school and the impact this will have on the surrounding streets. From the traffic studies provided it is estimated that 83% of children or 830 children will be dropped at school in the AM peak by car, which could be as little as 30 min . Accounting for 2 children per car, which is an estimate in the table, this is still 415 parent cars plus 51 staff arriving in the AM peak. There are only 15 off site car spaces for the senior school and 10 on site for the primary school. Traffic will block the roads as no studies have been undertaken for the parents that use the spaces and take their children into the school in the morning to see teachers, pay accounts, purchase uniforms or want to speak to year advisors or administrative staff. Traffic will be a major concern on all streets surrounding the school and this is unacceptable to residents. The afternoon figures are only slightly better with 780 children being picked up by parents and 51 staff cars being generated in the PM peak. The traffic congestion being created is unacceptable to residents.

Three proposed schools within half a kilometre and the impact on traffic
• Amity College is one of three proposed schools in very close proximity. Another Independent school is proposed on the corner of Heath and Byron Road Leppington, less than a half a kilometre away from Amity College, and another school is identified on planning documents at Heath and Rickard Roads also within a half Kilometre from this school. Therefore 3 large schools within a half kilometre of each other will cause unacceptable traffic congestion and noise in our suburb.

Insufficient Provision of on street and off-street parking
• The information provided in the Traffic and Transport Assessment Documents Car Parking, Table 1: DCP Parking Rates and Provision, state minimum parking required for off street parking is 109 spaces and only 104 spaces are provided. The table outlines 70 year 12 students with 1 space per 5 students while under the table it outlines that the proposed intake of year 12 was 85 which would result in another 3 spaces needed on top of the insufficient parking. The figure of 10 spaces for 1000 students also seems incorrect as it has not taken into consideration Year 11 students and even older Year 10 students who would drive to school. A drive around the new independent school in Oran Park will clearly show the clogged local streets full of red and green P Plate cars surrounding the school due to insufficient on site student parking. The provision of 15 on street parking places for a school of 1000 when there is insufficient off street parking places will result in the streets surrounding the school being clogged and this is unsatisfactory to local residents.

Noise concerns due to out of hours delivery and service vehicles.
• The impact of large delivery and service vehicles to the site and the noise generated outside school hours as a result is seen as a concern to residents.

Traffic and noise concerns due to use of the school out of school hours.
• Residents have sited the out of hours use of the school facilities as a concern. The school has identified in the: Community Use Management Plan for School Facilities, that the school could be used from 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm Saturday and 12noon to 7pm on Sunday. Residents are concerned about noise on both Saturday and Sunday and until 9pm 6 days per week , traffic congestion around local streets and parking issues that will be generated as it is assumed that the undercover parking would not be available and as previously stated there is insufficient off street parking. This is seen as unacceptable to residents.

Water conservation
• Residents would like the school to consider water recycling as part of its planning.

Signage and Heritage
• Residents would like signage and advertising of the school to blend with the environment or be aesthetic in nature and consider the heritage of the area where possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed new school at No.85 Byron Road and No 63 Ingleburn Road, Leppington NSW and we hope that resident concerns are considered.

This response was also emailed to the responsible officer