Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC)

See attachment/s

I object to the planned location of the Hunter Indoor Sports complex at Wallarah and Blackley ovals. As a former resident of the area and a former student of Lambton High School I know first hand the issues with the location.

The area already encounters significant traffic, parking and congestion issues as a result of the neighbouring stadium, school and sporting facilities and cannot take on further traffic. While there are planned public transport upgrades in the area they are currently unfunded and do not have a firm start date so this is not a viable solution to alleviate these issues.

The students of Lambton High School are very frequent users of these fields with limited green space available within the school. The fields are used daily by the school for kids to undertake physical activity. They also provide a safe emergency muster point. While there are other fields in the area they are a further distance from the school and it has been repeatedly raised by teachers and the school community that it is not tenable to transport large groups of students over this distance whilst still allowing time for classes.

As a current resident of Beresfield I am also concerned about the proposal to relocate existing sports clubs to our area. There is no evidence that this proposal accounts for potential growth in the Beresfield Tarro region and concerns have been raised by local sports groups as to whether they will be forced to relocate.

I am also concerned that the former Lord Mayor of the City of Newcastle, Nuatali Nelmes, has recently raised conflicts of interest in relation to Newcastle Basketball. This is concerning given she seems to have had significant involvement in council's input on the stadium location.

I object to the project - please see attached document.

Submission attached

It appears to me that the discision to constuct a large sporting complex on parkland between Lambton and Wallarah roads has not been logically assessed.

Point 1.The ground has, in the past, been subject to flooding,so with the threat of more regular and intense weather events due to Climate Change could create more serious flooding than occured during the Pasha Bulker event both locally and upstream. An event like the Lismore flood would be catastrophic for both the complex and the surrounding neighbourhood.

Point 2 . Traffic and parking is already a problem on Knights home games and and Hockey tournaments and special events, to add another sporting complex in the same zone would increase these problems.

Point 3. The grounds are already being utalised by matches in more popular sporting codes on a regular basis and is also used by Lambton High.

Point 4. I believe a more suitable site would be unused area of the old Gas Works in Georgetown .This site was been sealed to contian the contamination and could provide off street parking and in the future,with i little imagination both Heavy and Light rail access..

Point 5. The ground is also used by several species of birds as a feeding ground for seed eating and insect eatinf varieties and is currently home to a pair of Malard ducks.

I hope you are taking these ponts along with those raised in other submissions into account when assessing the suitability of this site.

Regards

David Ditton

I have some concerns with regard to the proposed development of the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre.

Parking in our area at certain times is a problem. When there are sporting events at MacDonald Stadium and the hockey field, parking and traffic become overwhelming. The infrastructure is inadequate for large volumes of traffic. Also when the NRL play at the stadium, Young Road is closed to traffic making the other streets very congested.

Apart from Lambton Park the area for the proposed development is the only significant green space in the area which helps to absorb the run off during severe weather events, as this area has experienced a number of flooding events.

The loss of facilities for other local sporting clubs seems not the best way to use resources. Children and adult groups for football and cricket will be affected by taking away these spaces.

Another issue is the hemming in of the high school. Lambton High use the fields as a resource for training.

I wish to object to the proposed Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC) at 24 Wallarah Road and 2 Monash Road New Lambton for the following reasons:

Severely inadequate community consultation resulting in an inadequate assessment of the social impacts of the project. The guide to ‘Planning engagement for State significant projects’ states that a project be deemed to have high impact and high significance for the community is likely to “significantly change the visual or local amenity and local infrastructure; have significant construction or operational impacts; and, involve land acquisition”. Given the size of the HISC development, the required funding, the estimated number of users, the increase in traffic and the change in use of a substantial piece of land within a residential area the HISC would be classified as having an extensive and broad impact on the community. According to these guidelines a project assessed as extensive and broad “will require wide-reaching engagement and availability of information about the project and how to be involved.”
The resulting engagement with the local community can only be described as extremely limited and not proportionate to the scale of the development. As a local resident who resides only 300m from the proposed development I have not been provided with any information or been given the opportunity to express my views.
The Community and Stakeholder Engagement Report (Appendix LL) shows that letters were disseminated to a mere 240 residential properties surrounding the development (at Appendix 7.1 Areas of Affectation). My property is located only a block from the proposed development, and I was not notified of the project until receiving a letter from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. I sit within the study area of the ‘Flood Risk Impact Assessment’ (Appendix CC) and have difficulty obtaining insurance on my house due to flooding in the past. A development of this nature could affect my ability to insure my house in the future and yet we have not been offered any opportunity to engage with or obtain any information or express my views.
Consultation with Lambton High School included only a notice in the school’s newsletter and no attempt at engagement with future students at the school – possible through engaging with residents in the catchment area for the school or feeder schools. My children are zoned to attend Lambton High School and this development will affect them in the future – yet again we have not been provided with the opportunity to engage with or obtain any information or express my views on the project.
The report also states that a notice was placed through a media story on the Newcastle Herald. This would only be accessible to an individual who purchases a copy of the paper on that specific day or is a subscriber. This is not an inclusive attempt an engagement. Again, as I don’t subscribe/purchase the paper we have not been provided with the opportunity to express my view on the project.

This lack of engagement with local residents such as myself has meant that there are large gaps in knowledge in the ‘Socio-Economic Impact Assessment’ (Appendix II). The ‘Expected and Perceived Social and Economic Impacts’ (page 58) have been evaluated based on extremely limited consultation meaning that the Socio-Economic impacts have been evaluated incorrectly and therefore mitigation measures are often totally inadequate.
- Traffic and Carparking: has been assessed as having medium significance. This is inaccurate. Traffic and carparking in the surrounding streets is already a major issue for local residents without the HISC development. Proper consultation with the community would have identified the difficulties that residents currently face in parking and accessing their properties during any events (major or minor) at Wallarah or Blackley Ovals, McDonalds Jones Stadium, Ford Oval, Arthur Edden Oval, Lambton High School or the International Hockey Centre. The Traffic Impact Assessment hasn’t looked at residents that park daily in surrounding streets (with the assessment studying only Turton and Monash Road). Users of the stadium coming from the North, East or West will be driving and parking in streets that are already clogged with resident cars. Residents of the majority of these streets were not offered the opportunity to offer their lived experience of the current situation in the area. The planned mitigation falls short as the current situation has not been adequately examined or assessed. Mitigation includes not scheduling major events at the same time as events at McDonald Jones Stadium but there is no mention of events at other locations in the area. An “in-principle” agreement has been made with Venues NSW for the use of their carpark during major events at the HISC – this is not a valid form of mitigation as it is not a formal agreement.
- Flooding and stormwater management: has been assessed as medium. This is inaccurate. If proper engagement had been undertaken with residents there would be a better understanding of the difficulties residents face in insuring their houses currently and flooding and damage that results from weather events at present. Desktop studies and modelling can not and should not be substituted for lived experience. Mitigation includes avoiding use of the HISC carpark during weather events – further causing an impact on the carparking situation in the area.
- Loss of Open space: has been assessed as having high significance. This is inadequate. This loss of open space has a significant impact on the current accessibility of the space as well as the health and wellbeing or residents and students at Lambton High School. Current use of the ovals have only been assessed using the City of Newcastle ‘Strategic Sports Plan’ from 2020 which only assessed the use of the ovals by sporting organisations in winter. It does not include the use of the ovals by Lambton High School, summer sports or local residents. The impact on future students at Lambton High School has not been included in this assessment either. At present local residents have free access to open space. Taking over the space with a user-pays facility will prevent vulnerable groups within the community from accessing space to exercise for free. The mitigation plan included engaging with key sporting associations but the list of affected organisations is not comprehensive or correct. Letters of support have been received from only two organisations that do not represent the full breadth of organisations that use the facility.

In the paper work New Castle basketball there is seating for 2500 people assuming 2.5 people per car equate 1000 vehicles. Site plan is proposing site parking for 205 car spaces forcing 800 cars area already congested on the residential streets. Games will play between 4pm-10:30pm at night with games starting and ending on the hour. So which contribute to noise and traffic congestion on street that are not suitable for this amount of traffic.

There is no dedicated footpath on norther side of drain only a share circle way which has flooded numerous time in heavy rain. 1400 students of adjacent high school use these ovals for PE studies and other activities and it is also emergency muster point.

Newcastle basketball stated they can use the new stadium for PE, I am assuming this would be at the cost to students as I cannot see them providing free of charge. Cost for the new stadium appears to be 18 million with only 25million dollar grant, where will the difference comes from how long the extra money appears to complete the second stage.

When an event at Mcdonald Jones stadium plus new castle hockey centre, parking will not be available near the new stadium. It is estimated there will be a projection up to 10,000 new residents living in the Broadmeadow precincts, therefore these residents will need green space. The soccer and cricket teams that already use oval for training and competition will be forced off and have to travel between 20-45 mins depending on time of day by car therefore forcing more traffic congested roads. Why can't this new stadium be built on existing land that the old basketball stadium shares now?

See letter dated 11 November 2024

As a long term player and parent to 2 playing children, i strongly support the new HISC. The existing facilities are not sufficient and with that site earmarked for major residential development, the proposed site at Broadmeadow seems on balance to go towards meeting the needs of participants and minimise the impacts on the nearby community. It is adjacent to major sporting facilities and an arterial road for access. Considering the population of the Newcastle region that the sport is turning away participants due to lack of courts, indoor sports space is definitely insufficient and by it's nature is hard to develop in a low impact way; unlike other sports that are spread across the region. Based on the information available, and experience with sites that have been found to be inappropriate - this proposal is a fair one and no other reasonable alternatives have been noted by proponents or opponents to the development.

We live within a 3 minute walk of the site for this development and strongly object the
construction of the new Hunter Indoor Sports Centre development in the proposed
location of Lambton Ovals (previously known as Wallarah and Blackley Ovals).
I acknowledge that Newcastle Basketball does require an upgraded facility however the
current proposed site is not a suitable site for a development of this scale.
My objection to the current proposed site not being suitable is outlined below:
 The loss of valuable and irreplaceable green space. The removal of green space
will never be returned to the community. These ovals are more than just a sports
oval, they are a place a great many people utilise just to enjoy being outdoors,
away from concrete structures.
 There are many current users of the green space range from sports clubs, to
Lambton High school students, to parents with their children, to individuals
seeking some space, grass and sun to relax. We pass, travel through or use
these ovals ourselves regularly, and we are always sharing the green space with
others who find this space vital to their daily lives.
 Lambton High School will lose their play and sports areas as well as their
evacuation locations.
 Currently our neighbours small children often play in our back lane. However,
when they are old enough to cross the busy main road, they will be looking to use
the ovals for play instead. This is what the older children have done. Many
parents currently take their children to the ovals for sports practice regularly.
 The stormwater drainage around the ovals is regularly impacted by wet weather.
The area has been declared a flood prone area. The grassed ovals currently
assist with the water flow through some absorption however with this natural area
being removed will increase the flooding to the neighbouring streets even further.
 Currently every time there is an event at the McDonald Jones Stadium there are
major traffic congestion in the streets immediately around the stadium. This will
increase significantly with the introduction of the basketball stadium.
 There are a great many issues with people attending the events to park their cars
across and in private driveways. This is always a problem and will increase
further with the basketball patrons reducing the already limited parking available in
the area.
 Pedestrian movements in surrounding streets attending the basketball centre will
negatively impact private property as with the stadium events people litter
neighbouring yards as well as trespassing through private property.
 Any additional traffic, and people will increase the noise levels to the area. The
residents were in the area will all be impacted by additional traffic from early in the
morning to late evenings most nights of the week. Shift workers, elderly and the ill
will be negatively impacted by this change.
 Other sports clubs already utilising the current ovals that will be forced to relocate
or worse, cease altogether due to a lack of other facilities within the area.
 The loss of the green space, somewhere to exercise will have a negative impact
on all users mental health when replaced by concrete. Being nature helps with
mental health and the reduction of this will have a negative impact on those
surrounding the area.
Basketball in a great and popular sport that deserves good facilities, however prioritising
one sport over the reduction or elimination of at least 2 other sports is not the best
outcome for the community.

The new basketball centre needs to be located in a more suitable site, where there are far
less negative impacts to all parts of the community.
An option to be considered would be land near the Glendale Bunnings and Costco sites
(Munibung Road and Main Road Boolaroo). It is currently vacant, with a great deal less
residential impacts. There is also already transport options nearby and newly constructed
roads to handle the traffic.

We live within a 3 minute walk of the site for this development and strongly object the construction of the new Hunter Indoor Sports Centre development in the proposed location of Lambton Ovals (previously known as Wallarah and Blackley Ovals).
I acknowledge that Newcastle Basketball does require an upgraded facility however the current proposed site is not a suitable site for any development.
My objection to the current proposed site not being suitable is outlined below:
• The loss of valuable and irreplaceable green space. The removal of green space will never be returned to the community. These ovals are more than just a sports oval, they are a place a great many people utilise just to enjoy being outdoors, away from concrete structures.
• There are many current users of the green space range from sports clubs, to Lambton High school students, to parents with their children, to individuals seeking some space, grass and sun to relax. We pass, travel through or use these ovals ourselves regularly, and we are always sharing the green space with others who find this space vital to their daily lives.
• Lambton High School and New Lambton Primary School will lose their play and sports areas as well as their evacuation locations.
• Currently our neighbours small children often play in our back lane. However, when they are old enough to cross the busy main road, they will be looking to use the ovals for play instead. This is what the older children have done. Many parents currently take their children to the ovals for sports practice regularly.
• The stormwater drainage around the ovals is regularly impacted by wet weather. The area has been declared a flood prone area. The grassed ovals currently assist with the water flow through some absorption however with this natural area being removed will increase the flooding to the neighbouring streets even further.
• Currently every time there is an event at the McDonald Jones Stadium there are major traffic congestion in the streets immediately around the stadium. This will increase significantly with the introduction of the basketball stadium.
• There are a great many issues with people attending the events to park their cars across and in private driveways. This is always a problem and will increase further with the basketball patrons reducing the already limited parking available in the area.
• Pedestrian movements in surrounding streets attending the basketball centre will negatively impact private property as with the stadium events people litter neighbouring yards as well as trespassing through private property.
• Any additional traffic, and people will increase the noise levels to the area. The residents were in the area will all be impacted by additional traffic from early in the morning to late evenings most nights of the week. Shift workers, elderly and the ill will be negatively impacted by this change.
• Other sports clubs already utilising the current ovals that will be forced to relocate or worse, cease altogether due to a lack of other facilities within the area.
• The loss of the green space, somewhere to exercise will have a negative impact on all users mental health when replaced by concrete. Being nature helps with mental health and the reduction of this will have a negative impact on those surrounding the area.

Basketball in a great and popular sport that deserves good facilities, however prioritising one sport over the reduction or elimination of at least 2 other sports is not the best outcome for the community.
The new basketball centre needs to be located in a more suitable site, where there are far less negative impacts to all parts of the community.
An option to be considered would be land near the Glendale Bunnings and Costco sites (Munibung Road and Main Road Boolaroo). It is currently vacant, with a great deal less residential impacts. There is also already transport options nearby and newly constructed roads to handle the traffic.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this submission.

I am opposed to this proposal because I live in Beresfield and many of the sporting clubs displaced by this proposal will be moved up to Beresfield and Tarro. I'm concerned that the City of Newcastle has not adequately planned for the current population, and future population growth, in estimating the amount of sporting fields required in the city. As a result, I'm concerned there won't be enough sporting facilities in Beresfield and Tarro. Additionally, from what I have read, the City of Newcastle is only concerned with organised sport when looking at sport field capacity, and doesn't take into account the use of ovals and other green spaces used on a casual, non-organised manner. I think it's important for kids and adults across the city to have access to green spaces to play non-organised sport.

Additionally, I think it is appalling kids at Lambton High School will lose the ovals and will have to walk to play sports and access green space. Childhood obesity and mental health issues are growing and it is baffling why the City of Newcastle thinks it's appropriate to take green space away from kids when green space is essential for mental and physical health.

I am also a frequent attendee of the McDonald Jones Stadium and the parking is very limited, expensive and the public transport options are not feasible for many people coming from parts of the city. The basketball stadium will make the parking worse, and I really feel for local residents. The traffic is also terrible when a major event is on, and I expect this to be able worsened if the proposal goes ahead.

I also object to this proposal because of the completely inadequate consultation with the local community. I am seeing a concerning trend with anything related to the City of Newcastle where the community isn't at all consulted. The community then has to spend everything they have fighting a proposal they were never even asked about. This trend was definitely started by the unpopular former Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes but I fear it will continue even after her demise. She didn't, until recently, declare the significant conflicts of interest she had in choosing this site, given her significant involvement in Newcastle Basketball over decades and the fact that Erica James, President of Newcastle Basketball, has run on the Labor Ward 3 Ticket for previous Local Government Elections. I have no evidence of any wrong doing. However, it seems that given the community wasn't consulted, and that there were significant conflicts of interest not declared until very recently, I believe this doesn't pass the pub test and the former Lord Mayor's role in the site being selected should be investigated.

Submission attached.

This letter is in regards to the proposed Newcastle Basketball Stadium that is to be built on Blackley and Wallarah Ovals. I am supporting the Newcastle Basketball Association of building a new basketball stadium. However the I am fully and totally opposed to the proposed location, it does not make sense.

Communication: on one was informed by Newcastle Basketball Association of this major project of a 6 story high 12x basketball courts only letters from Newcastle Council of developments in the area which I found confusing. There was multiple meetings that none of the local residents were not informed of and no flyers were received.

Traffic: The traffic congestion is so bad on Turton Road it has taken me up to 10 minutes just to get out of my driveway of the apartment complex I live in and that is on a good day.

As a local resident of Harwill Court apartments and living right next door to these ovals, just the construction alone will be an absolute nightmare not to mention the end result with the huge increase to traffic and parking.
How would you like an 18meter high brick wall built out the front of your place?

Environment: I cannot imagine what will happen to all the birdlife that uses Blackley and Wallarah Ovals everyday. There is not a day goes by without seeing some form of birdlife on these ovals.

Sport and recreation:
Blackley and Wallarah Ovals are used everyday for exercise from local residents to personal trainers but also a multitude of sport events from soccer to cricket and Lambton High School students use these ovals everyday.

The Traffic Impact Assessment Report prepared by SECA and submitted in support of the proposal is inadequate.
For example the attached traffic survey report prepared by Northern Transport Planning and Engineering Pty Ltd (ABN 79 056 088 629 - https://ntpe.com.au/ Ron Brown is a Director of NTPE) shows that Northbound traffic flows on Turton Road opposite the proposed Indoor Sports Centre can be up to 44% higher than the Saturday count used in the assessment prepared by SECA. Major developments such as the proposed Indoor Sports Centre require more extensive survey work in order to ensure that traffic impacts are fully addressed and appropriate traffic management strategies are identified and planned for.
It is also considered that the Traffic Impact Assessment Report fails to address issues relating to traffic movements in Young Rd, Womboin Rd, Wallarah Rd and Monash Road.
No traffic data is provided for Womboin Rd or Wallarah Rd.
No data is provided for traffic flows at the intersection of Young Rd / Womboin Rd, Womboin Rd / Wallarah Rd or Wallarah Rd / Monash Rd.
The Report estimates that up to 50% of vehicles travelling to the Indoor Sports Centre will do so via Monash. The environmental capacity of Monash Rd to carry this traffic has not been assessed. It is understood that residents in Monash Street are expected to accept the impost of significant traffic flows and parking on the weekend during major events at the McDonald Jones Stadium. However, the proposed Indoor Sport Centre will be functioning every day of the week with the number of people attending turning over two or three times during periods such as weekday evenings.
The TIA Report also fails to offer any comment on how the 90 degree parking in Monash St will be used. Patrons attending the Indoor Sport Centre who choose to use the parking available in Monash Street and use the pedestrian footbridge over the canal will potentially impose on the amenity of these residents late in the evening.
The TIA Report references traffic flows at the intersection of Monash St / Turton Road and the Emergency Access to the Hockey Centre without acknowledging that this is only an Emergency Access. They also fail to record the traffic flows at the actual active access to the Hockey Centre off Turton Rd.
The SECA TIA Report presents a SIDRA Analysis for the Emergency Access to the Hockey Centre without acknowledging that this access would only be used in the case of an Emergency. The inclusion of this assessment in the TIA report suggests that the author of the report had an inadequate knowledge of the road network surrounding the proposed Indoor Sports Centre. Meanwhile the actual driveway serving the Hockey Centre was ignored.
The trip distributions assumed in the SECA TIA Report in Figures 4-1, 4-2 and 4-3 are presented without any justification. For example data presented in Figure 4--2 assumes that 88% of vehicles will exit north along Turton Rd toward Griffith Rd. This assumption ignores the overall assumption that 50% of vehicles arrived from the South or West and therefore the trip distribution fails to acknowledge that a large proportion of these vehicles would be likely to turn left into Young Rd to then wend their way back to roads such as Bridges Rd or Lookout Rd.
The access to the Indoor Sports Centre, Car Park off Turton Rd is designed to accommodate the turning path of a 13m Bus and large delivery vehicles. However, the exit driveway design cannot accommodate these larger vehicles. It will be necessary for these vehicles leaving the car park to ignore the pavement marking provided in order the turn left out into lane 2 on Turton Rd. These large vehicle turning movements are detailed in the attached drawing.
Meanwhile, small vehicles turning left out of the car park are faced with potential conflicts with vehicles turning left into the Residential Units at 303 Turton Rd and those turning left into Young Rd. At least 50% of these left turn vehicles will wish to proceed north. However, the majority will occupy the kerb side lane and be mixed up with vehicles that wish to turn left into Young Rd. The bus bay just south of Young Rd will be another factor that will contribute to vehicle conflicts in this area.
The Indoor Sports Centre car park access driveway is almost directly opposite the driveway to the McDonald Jones Stadium. The McDonald Jones Driveway currently permits right turn movements in and out. Conflict between vehicles entering and leaving the McDonald Jones Stadium and those leaving the proposed Indoor Sport Centre have not been addressed.

Community green spaces need to be maintained as green spaces.
Sporting clubs and Lambton High School use this space.
Parking already a problem in this area when sports stadium in use.
Area parallel to storm water drain.
Local community does not support the use of this community space for development.

Venues NSW provides it feedback on the project in the following attachments.

I am currently a student at Lambton High School and, along with the other 1200 students, use this green space multiple times a week for school PE, sport and wellbeing activities. As we will no longer be able to use these fields, I am worried how that will impact my education, health and wellbeing.
I am concerned about the noise and disruption that will happen during construction, including getting to and from school with construction vehicles and road blockages. In particular, I am worried about the noise that will impact me as I enter my senior years and during my HSC exams.
I will also be impacted as a member of Western Suburb Junior Cricket Club. I don’t think adequate consultation or consideration of the impact of this development on my club or its players has been considered. I don’t understand why one sport would get preference over another. There are already not enough sporting fields to accommodate all the sports in this area. Bringing in 2500 people from other areas at the expense of our local residents (who use these fields to play sport, train, exercise, and undertake other recreational activities) seems inappropriate.

As a local resident of the surrounding Lambton area I object to the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre (HISC) project and believe a better location can and must be found. As a past parent of Lambton High students I believe that the loss of green space to the Lambton High Community would be devastating. Once the green space is gone, we can never get it back. The New South Wales Minister for Planning and Public Spaces said the NSW government “remains committed to having more public, green space”. With that in mind we should not give up the green space we already have in favour of this project.

A majority of the Lambton High Student population enrol there from New Lambton Public School. For people that don’t live locally they may not know that New Lambton Public School does not have a blade of grass on the entire grounds. I believe those students particularly deserve greenspace for their health and wellbeing. If they don’t have any green space for their primary schooling, they deserve it during high school particularly in a regional area. Lambton is not an inner-city suburb where you might expect a shortage of green space. The present and future students at Lambton High School deserve the green space for organised school sports such as cricket, soccer, AFL, rugby league, cross country running, for fun school activities as well as for their free time in recess and lunch. “Access to green space has been linked with improved mental well-being, overall health, cognitive development in children, and lower psychological distress in teens” Associations between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence Editor: Paul B Tchounwou.

As a parent of past New Lambton Public School students, I know the difficulties that staff encounter taking the students to other parks or sports grounds. If young people are to be taken off the school grounds, then two teachers are required to travel across roads. Parental permission is required if they are to travel to alternative locations. The above restrictions mean that precious activity time is lost, and teachers time and resources are stretched thin.

As a local resident I’m also concerned about the planned outdoor courts and gym equipment. I do not believe a satisfactory assessment has been made of these in the noise report or lighting report. I also wonder if consideration has been given to the antisocial behaviour that may take place late at night – has a crime report been done? All these things impact the local suburb and particularly the surrounding residents.

Lastly, I know many residents are objecting to this project for many reasons other than the ones I have discussed above such as flooding, parking, the building impact and the cost. All of which are extremely valid points, and all reinforce why this is not the right site for the project. Another more appropriate location should be found.