Ballina High School Upgrade

I have an objection to the construction of a vehicular entry off Swift Street. This is already a high traffic street with St Francis School across the road and the bus interchange. Having any additional traffic will make this, already busy Street dangerous for cars and students.

My biggest concern. CAR PARKING. this being a super school with over 90 teachers per day and students driving to school.
I note Cherry Street Sports Club is hamstrung from any future development unless more car parking is included in the development. Where will the new car parking for the SUPER school be, I'm presuming Cherry Street, Burnett Street will be inundated with cars all day every day. I ask the question is this fair to residents and local businesses.

To whom it may concern

As nearby residents to the proposed redevelopment of the Ballina High School site, we are concerned to find out that there will not be any on site parking for staff, students or visitors.

The new school being built for an intake of 1000 students will require at least 100 car spaces daily. The lack of onsite parking will only cause significant problems in the nearby streets.

In Cherry Street, parking is already at a premium. There is a major licensed sports club, with many older patrons who have mobility issues, sporting fields, also a hospital and churches in close proximity.

As ex teachers, having parking on site is a priority in terms of access and being able to transport equipment to and from your vehicle.

While we support the project overall, we would like to see provision for on site parking for at least 100 vehicles.

Regards
Geoff and Sue Walters

With the increase of students, teachers, staff and workers, parking vehicles is going to be a problem. On-site parking should be provided - at the very least for all the teachers and staff. On-site parking is a requirement for residential and commercial properties. Why not for this development? Especially a development of this size. Off street parking around the school will not be enough especially considering the new school will be approximately three times the size of the old school.

I am supportive of the new high school and the learning philosophy that underpins the plan.

I have personal concerns about potential flooding and potential parking problems created by the project.

1. FLOODING - Having read the Civil Engineering Design(SEARS) Report, I wish to advise some observations that I have made regarding flooding at Ballina High School in over 30 years of teaching at Ballina High School and in the 36 years of living in Ballina town.

As Deputy Principal(1992-2001) and Principal(2002-2010) during flood rain and afterwards, I spent a couple of hours early in the morning prior to the General Assistant arriving , clearing leaf litter and other debris blocking the drain on the northern side of the on site car park which drained the whole oval area.

The oval on many occasions(more than 20 in my time at the school) was flooded for three days or more. Whenever there was torrential rain in Ballina and especially when it coincided with high tide, I always carried gum boots in my car, as did many staff members. The General Assistant would spend the bulk of the day clearing the debris to keep the flood water flowing into the storm water from the oval.

The drain on the southern side of the car park flowed slightly better, as it is concreted and water escapes into the storm water pipes downstream of the northern drain. The southern drain did not have the huge catchment area of Clement and MacDonald Park to drain away excess water.

The drainage reports do not acknowledge the long history of oval flooding and the northern drain flooding to cover the footpath and, in turn, do not provide a solution to this flood issue.

The construction of the sports' stadium on the car park site in the future, will need to take into account the run off of water from the school oval. The water table is not far down on the oval and the ground becomes saturated very quickly, leading to large volumes of surface run off in flood times.

Many photos of this flooding have been taken over the years and should be on the school's administration system.

In the 190's the flooding reached the top of the steps at the main entrance to Ballina High School and flooded the student toilets. The school had to be closed. There are photos of this flooding in the Northern Star archives and in the school archives.

2. PARKING Current off street parking at Ballina High School caters for 50 cars, with staff and licensed student driver population in 2016 being less than half that of the projected population of the new high school in 2019. The Civil Engineering (SEARS) Report indicates that there will be no off street parking when the new school is completed.

During 2016 I visited Ballina High School many times in the second half of the year in school hours. The off site car park was always full. Twelve to fourteen cars were always parked in Martin Street and ten to twelve on Cherry Street, north of the school entrance and six to twelve cars south of the school entrance on Cherry Street. These were predominantly staff cars. Up until the H.S.C. commenced in 2016, senior student cars numbered 20 to 25 in Burnett Street near the tennis courts.

It would seem from my observations, that more that more than 92 spaces were needed for teaching staff, support staff, senior students, canteen supervisor, canteen volunteers, visitors and other community volunteers for the 2016 Ballina High School population.

The Civil Engineering (SEARS) Report on Page 25 anticipates 73 teachers and 19 support staff, totalling 92 staff for Ballina Coast High School in 2019. The estimates for parking requirements in the report for the new high school, therefore appear to be greatly underestimated. The projected staff population, together with canteen supervisor and canteen volunteers, community volunteers, uniform coordinator, tradespeople, visitors and senior students' cars, will lead to a demand for more than double the 2016 parking needed on and near the site.

During special events, parking in the past, and as recently as November 2016, has been several blocks away from the school. When flood warnings are issued by S.E.S. for areas around Ballina and parents are contacted to collect their children, the planned parking and pick up arrangements my not be safe, adequate nor sensible in Cherry Street.

Parking near Southern Cross K-12 School in 2016 was also difficult to find in school hours. I acknowledge that the school also accommodates primary staff and distance education staff, but many of the cars parked along adjoining streets had P plates displayed, indicating a large number of student drivers in Year 11 and 12.

In addition, with secondary special education students relocating to Ballina Coast High School from Southern Cross K-12 (S.C.S.) and combining with the Ballina High School (B.H.S.) special education students, in my view, the two disabled parking spaces for drop off on Cherry Street will be totally inadequate, especially as the taxis transporting students tend to arrive around the same time.This has been an issue in the off street car park for many years at Ballina High School where there is only one disabled park. The distance for students and aides to their special education learning spaces from the drop off parks appears to be greater than for the current S.C.S. and B.H.S. disabled students.

I believe some consideration needs to be given to at least one disabled parking spaces on site, as well as more disabled drop off parks on Cherry Street. I also believe that off street parking could be incorporated in to the area in the south east corner of the site on the corner of Martin and Swift Streets for 20 cars.

I also draw to your attention a letter to the Editor of the Ballina Shire Advocate on Wednesday 25 January expressing concern about parking. The author of this letter is not known to me so I do not think they attended Ballina High School but clearly the author is a concerned Ballina resident.

My biggest concern is that all school parking on the current plan will be off site and along, already busy streets.

Submission Regarding Building C Block - Timber Demountable
Ballina Coast High School

The building known as C Block is the Ballina High School historic timber building located on the north side of the aquaculture shed, adjacent to the main oval. Over the years, it has been used for many purposes.

In the Project Overview on Page 9 Appendix C Development Plan Part B, the building is labelled "Future Agriculture," "Garden Store," and "Outdoor Equipment Store." I believe that a timber building is not suitable to store petrol operated garden and outdoor equipment, oils and chemicals for agriculture and garden use. Currently, there is a double colorbond shed between the Marine Discovery Centre and the Hospitality complex, accessible from Martin Street and from the school playground. This shed has always been used to house the tractor(prior to the zero turn being purchased), ride on mower/s, push mowers, garden equipment, tools etc.

The Ballina Schools' Historical Soicety Inc. has requested that the classroom known as C1 of this timber building be made available to store the Ballina High School extensive memorabilia, as well as memorabilia from feeder schools in the Ballina shire. The Principal of Ballina Coast High School, Ms Janeen Silcock, is extremely supportive of this request and can see the merit in locating the huge amount of items on the new school site in Classroom C1. Ms Janeen Silcock is a former Ballina High School student graduate and former executive teacher at Ballina High School. The current Principal of Ballina High School, Mr Daniel Henman, is also supportive of this request.

C Block is a building remembered by staff and students back to the early 1950's. The building is ideally situated for the purpose of storing the Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc.'s collection. The collection has been donated by former staff, students, families of former staff and students and community members. Over the farewell to Ballina High School weekend in November 2016, it was estimated by the media that over 4,000 people visited the school during the weekend and entered the school library where a plethora of interesting items and photographs were on display. Some visitors spent several hours searching through newsclips, school magazines and school publications.

Over the years, there has been great interest in the Ballina High School memorabilia, archives and honour boards. The Ballina High School 75 th anniversary weekend, brought former staff and students from all over Australia and the world, as did the farewell weekend in 2016. This is evidenced in the information that many visitors recorded on the registers at these two events.

The membership of the newly formed Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc. is growing rapidly. The Society is now registered with ATO as a charity. Office Bearers and members of the Society are former staff, executive, teaching and support; former students, including the Mayor of Ballina Shire, David Wright; former and current Ballina High School P&C Presidents and community members interested in retaining the proud history of public education in the Ballina Shire, in particular, secondary education.

On behalf of the Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc., I request that the classroom space C1 be made available to the society for the purpose of displaying and storing the Ballina High School and other Ballina Shire school memorabilia. The remaining two rooms of the building could be used for "Future Agriculture" and storage.

Denice Gallaway
Ballina High School teacher(1985-2011)
Vice President of Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc.

Submission Regarding Plaques and Signage

Having read the information on the Major Projects website, I am concerned that there is no mention of the plans for Ballina High School plaques and signage attached to the buildings, fences and sign frames.

Specifically, there are numerous plaques and signs that the Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc.(BSHSI) would be appreciative of them being donated or relocated on the site. As many of the items are screwed or affixed to the brickwork, steel or concrete, it is difficult to determine from the reports what will happen to these items.

The list below pinpoints the items of interest to the Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc.

1. M Block 1931 marble plaque in Classroom M1 marks the opening of the Ballina High School brick building. The BSHSI wish to store this plaque.
2. School Main Entrance - aluminium plaques for winning the 1997 NSW Environmental Award; and winning the 1997, 2006 and 2009 Tidy Towns Awards. These are affixed with Sikaflex or an epoxy adhesive. The BSHSI wish to store these plaques.
3. The glass panel above the main entrance was donated by a Year 12 class. The glass panel can be made into a table for the BSHSI to store.
4. Clement Park - aluminium plaques for Year of the Volunteer, school map and the history of MacDonald and Clement Parks are affixed to the brick piers. A timber curved sign is bolted to the steel posts on the top of the brick piers. The BSHSI wish to store these plaques and the sign.
5. E Block west side - three former deceased English staff members have been honoured by the staff of Ballina High School with brass plaques and a tree planted to commemorate the unveiling of the plaques. These plaques were laid in the presence of family members of the deceased teacher, staff and students. The BSHSI and family members would like the plaques and the trees to be relocated on site, as they are currently at the entrance to the new school. If they cannot be relocated, the family of the teachers would like to place them in their own gardens.
6. T Block - plaque for opening of the Trade School by the Minister, Verity Firth. BSHSI wish to store this plaque.
7. School external signage - the metal signs on the corner of Swift and Cherry Street, at the carpark entrance and on the corner of Martin and Bentinck Streets are of historical value to the town. The BSHSI wish to store these signs.
8. Flagpole playground - there is a plaque on a huge rock that the BSHSI wish to store if it is to be removed from the current site.
9. Signage on School Buildings - including Block signs - E, H, M, S, T, C and A; Trade School sign on Martin Street; TAS Block sign on corner of Swift and Martin Streets on T Block; staff room signs above the entrance doors; Common Room; SASS Staffroom; Print Room; Canteen(paid for by the P&C); Principal; Deputy Principal; 'Australians at War' timber signs in the Library(donated by KSEAVVA); Welcome sign in the foyer in numerous languages, and Out of Bounds signs.
10. The TV and plaque donated by Year 12 2010 in the foyer. The BSHSI wish to store their donation, at their request, and use the TV for display purposes.

The BSHSI members are willing to remove the above items. The aluminium plaques(2 and 4) and the marble plaque(1) could be removed, but the brick work would have to be disturbed. BSHSI members include a former General Assistant from the school, tradespeople and people, like myself, who are willing to unscrew the signs and move them to storage in C Block.

The BSHSI and members of the wider Ballina High School community would appreciate being given these items prior to the demolition of the buildings.


Denice Gallaway
Ballina High School teacher(1985-2011)
Vice President Ballina Schools' Historical Society Inc.

Safety of Bentinck st Ballina residents-50km/hr needs to be instated now before this school is developed as Bentinck st resident no longer have a safe crossing to get to school.A foot crossing was recently removed and now we have to run the gauntlet to get across at our own risk.This must change as it basic common sense.Please even the Pacific Highway slows to 40-50 kms/hr at schools.

I support the new concept plans but have issues with the following:

* I object to the lack of air conditioning in a three storey building

* I object to lack of windows to north and west elevations meaning some rooms will have no access to airflow.

* The multicourt on plan L06 looks to me like it is positioned wrong as anyone running off the edge of the court would end up in the open drain

Thank you for considering my comments, can't wait to see this building built for the benefit of my children.

There is genuine community concern about the fact that the plans for this new school do not provide parking for either students of staff within the school grounds. This will mean that those needing to park will have to use Cherry and the surrounding streets. This street in that area is used constantly by the Cherry Street Bowling Club, the Catholic Church, the Uniting Church and the Masonic hall. When there are large funerals, which are usually during school hours parking is already at its maximum. It would be impossible to provide the estimated 120 additional places for staff and students. Since most developers seem to be required to provide adequate parking it would seem logical that this should be the case for a public facility such as a school.

It is imperative that significant historical buildings and memorabilia be preserved as these represent the school structures and educational practices for the interest of not only current interested people, but those who reside in the future.
As an ex student raised in Ballina and a teacher of 20 years at this school, I feel personally connected to the C Block building, M block and the memorabilia collected over many years. The interest shown in displays that we have assembled has been widespread. To house these archives in C bock would ensure that these are preserved and enjoyed for all who wish to visit or view.
Over the years we have been contacted by past students who wish to have a reunion and call on us (past BHS Staff) to provide articles from the archives in order for these students to recall friends, staff and physical aspects of their education such as the buildings. This will not cease with the building of a new school. In fact, past students and residents will want to recall this well into the future. The C Block building will accommodate archives from all feeder school interested.
As a previous English teacher at BHS, the staff have recognised the passing of colleagues with the planting of a tree or plaques which has been most important for both staff and students who wished to commemorate the impact that these staff had in our lives. The staff were members of this community and their families still remain closely tied to this community. If we can't preserve these, I would like to request that permission be granted for the plaques and tree to be given to the families.
As a past student and staff member, as well as secretary of the Ballina Schools Historical Society Inc, I request that you consider the preservation of C Block building and permit the extensive collection of archives to be housed here for the benefit of current and future generations.

Car Parking
I agree that it may be a good idea to not have car parking on the grounds. This will encourage people to use public transport. I just hope that street parking isn't taken up as it's becoming difficult to get a park around town during busy times.

Reduce Littering at School Bus Stops
I was pleased to see the "I think I killed a turtle" poem being displayed as a design feature in the school because my concern has been the plastic litter problem especially at the bus stop on Swift Street, corner of Cherry Street where there is a drain that flows to the river.
North East Waste advises that one bin is adequate for this bus stop which stretches a large block and is used by about 2,000 kids from several schools. I disagree. I spoke to some students who said they take their rubbish with them but I don't think they should have to. Others buy food at the takeaway or bring their own and stand in the shade of the trees on this corner to eat after school. (Note: Most / all of the students who use the bus stop are not from Ballina High school.)
I think the littering problem is in large part due to lack of bins. I've picked up lots of plastic and zip lock bags from the drain to save it going into the river.
I'd like to see:
* Another garbage bin plus a recycling bin on the corner of Cherry & Swift Streets.
* Plenty of yellow recycling bins to educate students to recycle. These could be decorated with attractive murals of the river and wildlife with slogans such as `Do Not Litter, Save the River' and `Keep Ballina Beautiful'
* Litter guards on the drains to stop plastic and bottles flowing into the river.
* Street signs as they have in Sydney advising that littering is an offence.
From WIRES: "litter is harming and killing our wildlife through entanglement and ingestion, with at least 77 species of marine wildlife found in Australian waters being affected."
Australian Seabird Rescue Marine Ecologist Jann Gilbert said they can get over 500 dead birds a year that have died from plastic ingestion. Hard plastic eventually breaks down into small pieces and birds are even feeding their chicks these plastic pieces. They die of starvation as they cannot digest food.

As part of the new school design, it would be a good opportunity to incorporate more effective measures to reduce litter and plastic pollution.

Other suggestions
* Totally solar powered buildings with solar panels covering the roof. This would save electricity costs, reduce carbon emissions and create jobs.
* Rain water tanks (also used for drinking water) and the vegetable/herb gardens situated on the eastern side, shaded from the hot western sun. It would be healthy to have access to non fluoridated water bubblers (pure water).
Vegetation
* Trees that provide deep shade in our hot summers such as Blue Figs and also support wildlife. Especially plantings on the perimeter of the school to shade the foot paths outside the school as well.
* Where part of the building is 3 stories in height, it would be good to screen it off with greenery, perhaps a vine growing up the wall to minimise visual impact (and heat impact of cement) and be in keeping with the quiet natural beauty of the area.

Thank you.

Submission on behalf of Ballina High School Historical Society

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