Hornsby Hospital Redevelopment - Stage 1

After having carefully perused the plans proposed for the Stage 1 building in the Hornsby Hospital Campus, I would like to bring to your attention a number of issues that concern me greatly as a local resident.
1. The plans seem to have the building practically on the footpath edge on the Burdett Street side. This can't be right; all buildings are set back from the road. New houses in the area are being set back to the normal level of other houses in the street. If you look at the plans it shows where the current buildings are situated and where the proposed building is to be situated, well out of line. As this Industrial Building is proposed to be at least three stories high on Burdett Street and then rising up to five further over, I would suggest that to try and build it so close to the road gives no consideration to the local residential area. It is going to overshadow not only the houses in Burdett Street, but even more so the houses in Derby Road. No amount of landscaping is going to hide a building that large.
2. I note from the plans that many of the essential services required for the new building are to be accessed from Palmerston Road. Why not build this building on Palmerston Road alongside the "HOPE" building, where it will have less of an impact on local residences and money could be saved on the plumbing in of services. It may cause some little disruption to the Hospital in the short term to build on Palmerston Road, but once the building is completed that disruption will then cease, whereas, if you build this enormous building in Burdett Street where there are the greatest number of local residences, then it will mean a lifetime of disruption for the residents.
3. I see that the traffic survey shows how splendidly the local roads and intersections work around this area. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion as the traffic in this area is excessive during the morning and afternoon periods. The lights at Edgeworth David Ave and Palmerston Road are always blocked and you can often wait for a number of changes of lights to get through. The intersection of Burdett Street and Palmerston Road is a dangerous spot as you can't see along the road for oncoming traffic because of cars parked on Palmerston Road. The intersection of Burdett Street and Jubilee Street is already a problem with cars queuing in both streets to cross the traffic calming hump. I would suggest a more realistic review be done on the traffic flows.
4. Residents living on streets around the Hospital already have great difficulty parking in their own street because hospital staff and others from the medical facilities in the area are parking in residential streets. Apart from the inconvenience to local residents, many elderly people attending the hospital are not able to park within a reasonable walking distance which causes them great difficulty. I see that the Hospital assumes that 300 of the residential street parking places are already theirs to use and if necessary another 300 places further out can be used for their purposes. As these are residential streets, I think this is a total disregard for the local residents and that a better solution to the parking for the hospital needs to be considered now and not some time in the future when it becomes chaotic.
5. If this proposed building goes ahead as per the plan it can only have a detrimental effect on the value of local residences, no-one will want to buy a house in an Industrial looking area. What, if any, consideration has been given to compensating the residences affected by this development?
I wish to say that the Hospital is a very important part of the community and I like many others have been supporting the hospital and hoping for funds to help it develop. So it is not that I don't want them to build a new state of the art building, but some consideration could have been given to the impact this size of building will have on the people who live around the hospital and who in the main are some of it's best supporters. Please reconsider before you rush in and build an eyesore that we then can't do anything about.

CAR PARKING
As a resident markedly affected by the spread of car parking in streets around the hospital, I believe that inadequate provision has been made for parking on site both during and after the building is completed.

It would surely be more appropriate to build car-parking accommodation prior to commencement of the new project, perhaps approaching a commercial parking organisation to build and maintain it if Government funding is not forthcoming. Most other hospitals require payment for parking, with staff usually at a more nominal rate. This would fulfil the Government's obligation both to those who live in the immediate area, visitors and hospital staff who currently often have to walk long distances from their parked cars. Whilst it would be ideal if they used public transport and obviously should be encouraged, many work hours outside availablity of frequent bus and train services and when it is not always safe.

Since construction began of the new mental health building, our street is now, and will be more so in the future, reduced to one lane on most weekdays. This is very dangerous for vehicles travelling along the street and for residents attempting, blindly, to reverse into the street.

I would like Council to look at restricting parking to one side only of Spurgin Street during the day from Monday to Friday, say 9am to 4pm, as an immediate, short-term solution to resident safety, until such time as there is adequate on site parking and our street returns to normality.

TRAFFIC FLOW
Traffic flow along Jubilee Street has been a source of concern for years and will only become worse with the increase in staff, outpatients and visitors to the hospital. Although the street is designated 'Local Traffic Only' this is totally ignored by many people avoiding the traffic lights at Edgeworth David Avenue and MyraSt/Palmerston Rd. I would like Council to look at ways to stop this short cut, such as blocking Burdett St at the west side of the Burdett St/Jubilee St Junction. This will not affect access to the hospital or the bus route and will only mean a small detour for residents leaving the area in their cars (of whom I am one). This would ensure the safety of pedestrians and local motorists as well as the law being upheld.

The proposed plans show a glass facade and courtyard on the western side of the building. I would suggest that these elements be moved to the eastern side of the building instead, for several reasons:

1. The current orientation receives the harsh afternoon sun. Placing the glass and courtyard on the east side would receive the morning sun into the building which is much more pleasant, especially for patients wanting to use the courtyard space, as well as being more ecologically friendly.

2. Placing these elements on the eastern side of the building greatly reduces the voluminous bulk of the building along the Derby Rd elevation. This would effectively change the appearance along Derby Rd from one huge building to two smaller buildings joined by a glass bridge, and would be much more sympathetic with the neighbouring residences.

3. If the glass facade cannot be moved to the eastern side of the building, I notice that the internal part of the building contains a central void that is only two storeys high, whilst the perimeter is four storeys high. Allowing that void to run all the way through to Derby Rd, or building the upper two floors adjacent to it as a glass atrium, would again both reduce the bulk of the eastern elevation into two smaller rectangular buildings and allow more morning light to penetrate the building.

We have concerns that there is insufficient on-site car parks to accommodate visitors, staff, patients & workmen etc. to the new building. The area around the development is already experiencing problems with car-parking availability. The consequences of this are that these people will have to park in surrounding streets - Spurgin Street being one. We have already noticed an increase in vehicles parked in our street so additional vehicles on top of this will be problematic. It should be noted that the recent curb & gutter work on Spurgin Street has resulted in the road being narrowed, particularly at the junction with Jubilee Street. Therefore when vehicles are parked on both sides of the street it is difficult at times for even one car to get through.

Jubilee Street is already a very busy road that at peak times experiences traffic difficulties, especially at the junction with Edgeworth David Avenue because of the badly designed one-way speed humps, which people regularly queue over making it a very dangerous intersection. This will only get worse with the increase in traffic caused by new visitors to the development, that are also unfamiliar with this road. Council needs to make it a no right hand turn from Jubilee Street into Edgeware David Avenue during peak periods to prevent accidents and congestion as it is. More traffic and parked cars are going to make this street a bottle-neck.

Please make more on-site parking available for the new development, get rid of the one-way speed humps (make it two-way humps) and make it a no right hand turn from Jubilee Street into Edgeware David Avenue during peak periods. This will make the area a lot safer for residents and visitors with the increased traffic the new development will bring into our area.

I am a resident of Jubilee St and the proposed development is less than 200 metres from my home.

I am extremely concerned about the effect that the development will have on the traffic flow in Jubilee St and also around the hospital as a result of the development,as well as parking issues which already have created hazardous situtations in this street.

Suitable solutions must be found to ensure that residential areas are safe and trafiic slows down or is stopped altogether in this residential street. It is not only a problem residents in Jubilee St, but the general area including implications of traffic flow on and entry to the hospital. Please refer to my letter in the attachment below.

I do not object to the development of the building, but I object to what it will do to worsen the already intolerable and dangerous traffic flow in Jubilee St Wahroonga and want evidence that this has been considered!

PDF of my submission has been attached. I object to some components of the project.

Refer attached letter and below

As an architect and as a resident in a nearby street to the proposal, I wish to make the following objections to the above proposal:

DGR 3. Built Form and Urban Design:
The Director General's Requirements included: `3. Built Form and Urban Design: Address the height, bulk and scale of the proposed development within the context of the locality.
Address design quality, with specific consideration of the ...open spaces and edges, primary elements, gateways, façade, rooftop, mechanical plant, massing, setbacks, building articulation, materials,..'
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 3. The scale, density and resultant massing of the proposed development is entirely inappropriate in respect of the existing established character of the area that is derived from low scale buildings with landscape settings, and generous street setbacks in the order of eight metres. The draft Hornsby Local Environmental Plan 2013 seeks to consolidate this established character, establishing a height limit for the adjacent and surrounding residential area of 8.5 metres and an FSR of 0.02:1.The scale, density and resultant massing of the proposed development greatly exceeds that envisaged by the draft HLEP 2013.
The proposed setback of 2.5 metres from Burdett Street does not respect the street setbacks established throughout the surrounding residential area, which generally are in the order of eight to ten metres, and the overscaling will exacerbated by this proposed forward alignment. There is insufficient modelling of the built form, little articulation, and no transitional element to ameliorate the excessive overscaling and the excessive height.
The minimal setback will provide an inadequate amount of spec for landscaping that might assist to ameliorate the excessive height and scale of the proposal by providing visual screening and a `green' buffer.
Both the Derby Street and Burdett Street ground floor frontages comprise inactive uses such as loading docks, fire stairs, Gas Room, Cold water Pump Room, Fire Sprinkler Pump Room, Records Room, Cleaning decontamination and Disposal Rooms etc, that are the most industrial in nature and the design resolution of such installations generally achieves a low aesthetic quality. These are at odds with the residential cottages that line both streets, opposite the site.

The Director General's Requirements included to `Built Form and Urban Design: Address design quality...including an assessment against the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Principles.'
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 3, in that the design quality does not provide a `safer by design' approach. The design quality does not provide a `safer by design' approach. Both the Derby Street and Burdett Street ground floor frontages comprise inactive uses that alienate the interior from the exterior streetscapes and provide no street surveillance, such as loading docks, fire stairs, Gas Room, Cold water Pump Room, Fire Sprinkler Pump Room, Records Room, Cleaning decontamination and Disposal Rooms etc. This is particularly problematic given the length of inactive frontage on both streets. The entrance to the building is via a recessed pathway, set well back from the street.
It is recommended that the proposal is redesigned to provide active uses located along the ground floor frontage at street level in Burdett Street and Derby Street. In order to achieve this, consideration should be given to relocating some of the existing community services that will be dislodged by the redevelopment, back into the building. The entrance should be located on the street frontage.

DGR 4. Amenity
*Assess solar access, acoustic impacts, visual privacy, servicing requirements (including but not limited to, waste management, loading zones, mechanical plant), view loss, overshadowing, lighting impacts and wind impacts. A high level of environmental amenity for land uses immediately adjacent and the surrounding residential areas must be demonstrated.
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 4, in that it will result in the overshadowing of Burdettt Street throughout the winter months, creating a dense solid shade and gloomy street character. Such solid shadow is inconsistent with the character of the surrounding area, where any shading cast from trees is dappled.

DGR 7. Transport and Accessibility (construction and operation)
The proposal does not fulfil DGR 7. There is an existing critical parking shortage and the proposal will result in increased shortage of street parking. Currently hospital related parking extends as far as Burdett and Collings Street. These streets have recently been decreased in width due to Hornsby Council `upgrading' works, despite written submissions from myself and others, that the reduced width results in a single lane width because of the intensity of hospital related parking. The proposal does not make use of the opportunity to excavate to provide underground carparking.
Non-car travel modes such as walking and cycling are not catered for, as there is only one location for a pedestrian crossing of Edgeworth David Street. This crossing may favour pedestrian route to Waitara Station, but not to Wahroonga Station. The large incline of Burdett Street, west of Palmerston Rd, discourages pedestrian movements towards Hornsby station. There are no cycling lanes leading to the hospital.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
To fulfil the Director General's Requirements and to ensure a higher level of contextual response to the surrounding residential neighbourhood, it is imperative that the proposal be redesigned as follows:
1. The massing of the proposed building as it fronts Burdett Street should be further articulated and modelled to provide a finer grain that more closely responds to the residential lot subdivision pattern.
2. The Burdett Street setback should be increased to a minimum of 10 metres to respond to the characteristic alignments of the surrounding residential area and to provide a landscape setting that is an integral part of the established character of the area. This setback will also decrease the dense overshadowing of Burdett Street.
3. Such a setback provides space for a densely planted visual buffer. This landscape zone with should comprise indigenous plant species of a range of heights to ensure the visual screening is dense at all levels, from low to high.
4. To provide a `safer environmental design' active uses should be located along the ground floor frontage at street level in Burdett Street and Derby Street. In order to achieve this, consideration should be given to relocating some of the existing community services that will be dislodged by the redevelopment, back into the building. The entrance should be located on the street frontage.
5. Consideration should also be given to locating inactive uses such as record storage and cleaning underground.
6. To alleviate the already existing critical parking shortage consideration should be given to provision of underground carparking.
7. To encourage non-car travel modes such as walking and cycling, a further pedestrian crossing of Edgeworth David Road should be provided, particularly one near Jubilee Street to create a link to Wahroonga Station. Cycling lanes should be created along Edgeworth David and Palmerston Road.

Yours faithfully

Margaret Desgrand

pl see attachment

Submission Attached

Submission Attached

Submission Attached

Submission Attached

Submission Attached

Submission Attached

This is second uploading of the submission and it's appendix as additional residents have requested that their names and signatures be noted as supporting this submission.
We object to some aspects of the Development application.