Mackas Sand Project - Mod 1

I am a member of Macca's Advisory Panel. Our wishes and directions are that:-

Macca's(or Graffil) utilise the existing mine haulage road that has been inplace for over 40 years+ this they signed up to do originally(witha local family group to access their land) then reneagged. If the had maintained this Ideology then there would be no further destruction of our Aboriginal non-renewable resources, no endangered species would be at risk. The adjacent areas to the actual extraction faces are significant to the Cultural Mapping processes of the Worimi People along with a very intricate component of our Intellectual Property rights and Storylines.

I was awarded the OAM in 2009 for services to the Aboriginal Community (especially land rights) I am a Worimi Elder and a "Keeper of the Stories" for my People. I was the Original Claimant of Stockton Bight for my People and a recognised and registered Traditional Owner of this area. I have spoken at International,State and Regional seminars on Aboriginal Affairs.I am also a qualified and practising Indigenous Archaeologist with over 33yrs of nexperience. We the members of Macca's AP have brought this issue to the fore, only to find as soon as we find a proposed route is unsuitable, another one is sought (7approx so far)

My reasoning is:- if a route we all agreed on initially was ideal to everyones operational plans, why therefore search for more damaging routes just to save a few dollars and be the 'winner'? The attitude of Macca's is appalling, the Worimi LALC have a vested interest (eventhough their Snr Cultural Officers agree with our proposed route (the original utilisation of existing haul road in an operational minesite) and people are fed up with the bullying tactics utilised by an unscrupulous non-transparant contractor pulling the wool over ill-informed peoples eyes, I will fight this proposal to the limits of my power and beliefs until common sense prevails and we see the original agreement honoured.

I am available at any time to discuss my submission or to debate (anyone) on the benefits of the first proposal against any of the following seven or eight

I understand the estimate is that one million tonnes of sand will be mined from lot 218 per year and hauled through this onto Nelson Bay Rd. This equates to upwards of 30 truck movements per hour to meet the consent conditions, one every two minutes, this is an impossible load and places massive traffic restrictions on the main thoroughfare between the Nelson Bay peninsula and Newcastle, home to more than half of the Port Stephens population, it places the lives of thousands of road users each day at serious risk.

This applicant must be made to use the roundabout at Williamtown via Lavis Lane and use the DA they already had approved back in 2009, ie. To haul sand out of lot 218 across the Towers property through Lavis lane and finally out onto Nelson bay Rd at Williamtown Cabbage tree roundabout which has the capacity to deal with high heavy traffic volume and pay the Towers family the levy they are entitled to based on the signed agreement with Bruce Mackenzie and seven members of the Towers family as part of the DA.

I don't believe the traffic study has taken into account the already approved extraction and truck movements which will be using Nelson Bay Road. I have had personal near misses at Salt Ash roundabout already and this will be turned into a U turn for empty trucks to come back to the proposed access road. If I am turning from Richardson Road into Salt Ash roundabout, a truck obscuring a following car turning left into the slip road will not be visible to me. Already I have had close calls at this location with vehicles exiting the slip road to the shopping centre and/or school. The time the traffic study is also challenged. My concern relates to public safety.

I object to the massive amount of sand being mined/extracted on Stockton Bight/Beach by Mackas Sand and the Woromi Aboriginal Land Council. Both these operators have massively scarred the vegetation and dunes along this beach. I have Googled these sites, as at 2010, and have also witnessed many other potential mining of privately-owned properties with their boundaries encroaching the beach dunes.
During the past 3 months Stockton Beach has been extremely unstable due to storm activity and has been closed to vehicular traffic.
The beach has been severely mined for rutile, zircon and ilmenite over many years. This has destabilised the beach.
Having reported the above, my real concerns are that a continuance of further encroachments into these dune areas with possible tsunamis and further storms will cause breaches along our coastline into flood prone farmlands adjacent to the beach.
I also have major concerns of the proposed road access both ingress and egress. Nelson Bay Road is the lifeblood of eastern areas of Port Stephens and the numerous amounts of heavy sand trucks is extremely dangerous to commuters.

I strongly oppose this application as it introduces into an already dangerous and narrow main road, substantial increases in traffic flow and especially large semi-trailers and B-Doubles that are in themselves a danger to the travelling and commuting public.
Substantial road damage regularly occurs from the existing heavy sand transporting vehicles with Nelson Bay Road being constantly under repair and in a deplorable condition.
There appears to be no contribution to roadworks required of the current development despite those vehicles being a major contributor. Any further loadings must be prevented and certainly the additional vehicle movements proposed as a consequence of this proposal, should it go ahead, would significantly increase dangers to the travelling public.
This development is totally unwarranted and is strenuously opposed.

Point 1.
As a property owner in the vicinity of this application for a new access across the low lying flood plane area of Williamtown, I am very concerned that there is insufficient flood mitigation along the proposed haul road across Lot 4 DP 1121457, Lot 1 DP 177679 and Lot 810 DP 753192. These lots are the lower lying areas and a gravelled and tarred road across this area will effectively create a dam barrier and the drainage patterns will be greatly affected. In the event of torrential and / or prolonged rainfall these low lying areas fill with water and the water drains away through the Tilligerry Creek system to the north and also the 14 foot drain to the south. With this dam created the water will be slowed as it recedes. This will have a negative impact upon my property.

Point 2.
The access onto Nelson Bay Road at Lot 4 DP 1121457 is at the corner affectionately known as "Cow Shit Corner". This corner is one of 2 blind corners along Nelson Bay Road at Williamtown and there has been a number of traffic accidents along this section of Nelson Bay Road. The traffic report created by Mr Terry Keating of TPK & Associates Pty Ltd states "TPK has not expanded on the history to date surrounding site access in this report as it is irrelevant to the assessment given a recent meeting by members of the project team with Roads & Maritime Services (RMS) Newcastle reached agreement in principle to permitting this access onto Nelson Bay Road." This statement is highly inflammatory as the site history MUST be taken into consideration due to the nature of its positioning within the road network. This corner is a blind corner that is extremely effected by fog in the colder months and to have heavily ladden trucks entering an 80kph road system in the fog is a serious accident or even a death waiting to happen. More study into the areas history is definetely a requirement.

Point 3.
The Lavis Lane roundabout that is mentioned in the application was purpose built for the sand mines on Lavis Lane to access the road network at a considerable cost to ratepayers. Though the 2 sand mines are now in their dying stages the roundabout would service the new sand mine and cause no impact to Lavis Lane or Nelson Bay Road. With this new access there will be considerable impact upon the intersection of Richardson Road and Nelson Bay Road at the Pauls Corner roundabout. This roundabout will effectively become a uturn facility and with most truck movements for daily orders of sand being usually within the hours of 6am to 9-10am there will be severe delays to the south bound traffic from the Tomaree and Tilligerry Peninsulas.

I object to this application for an alternate haul route also as a member of the Towers Family who have been supportive to the original access route as defined in the original application which was granted approval.
My Family have an agreement with Mr Bruce MacKenzie which we are more than ready, willing and able to act upon.

Sincerely,
Patricia Ann

To Whom May Be Concern.

I would like to express my deep opposition to Macca's Sand proposal on Nelson Bay Rd.

I would like to point out that myself and my neighbours have not been consulted on this matter by any such party.

My reasons for opposition are base on;

Noise; My house it only 5m approx. from the fringe of Nelson Bay Rd, and at present struggle with the expontenial increase in traffic noise from the road. The additional noise from 7 - 16 trucks per hour would have a significant and severe impact on my families quality of life and my ability to work (I am a shift worker). The combination of heavy truck changing gears and travelling at speed would be a significant increase in noise from current traffic noise levels, affecting all aspects of our lives.

Air Quality; The proximity to the road exposes myself and my family to any dust and sand that the trucks will distribute on passing our residence. I suffer from health ailments that are particularly sensitive to this issue, particularly airborne dusts and sand. In addition, I breed a number of small livestock that would be eqully affected, and therefore affect our overall income.

Safety; My family and I are regularly strained on leaving and gaining access to our property due to Nelson Bay Rd traffic. This is due to the quantity of traffic, the speed of the traffic, and being located on effectively two blind corners. The addition of 7 - 16 trucks per hour would place significant impacts on our ability to function safely as a residence. The trucks would cause bank ups of traffic that would impede our entry and exits, as well as cause irresponsible drivers to take risks (such as overtaking on a blind corner) that could result in our house, our vehicles or our lives being destroyed.

Property devalueation; With the increased traffic, noise and dust consistant with a 24hr a day, 7 day a week opperation, my property would be significantly devalued. The effects of large trucks and their operations would be apparent from all angles. One would be able to hear trucks going to the mine from my paddock (that is currently a noise oasis), as well as the constant large loud trucks going past my property. I estimate, due to noise and traffic increases, my properties value would be reduced by at least half, as it quickly transforms into a totally undesirable residence with no good features.

I would like to be consulted personally by Macca's Sand, so that I can first hand describe and demonstrate the impacts of their proposal to myself and my families life.

I would like to express concern over the proposed access road, and the impact it will have on traffic in the area.

Nelson Bay Rd is already famous for the number of serious road crashes that happen of this road. This development was approved on the basis that it had a comparative safe access in Lavis Lane and the only reason the developer wants to inflict this danger on the thousands that use this road daily to get to the Airport and work in Newcastle is to save him money. The Government cannot find the funds to widen this road to four lanes but is considering allowing hundreds of heavy trucks to clog up the road and force Airport users to take risks to get to the Airport on time. It is a criminal abuse of power and blood will be on the Minister's hands if this is approved .

I stongly oppose this application for trucking sand from this pit, for it to acess Nelson Bay road near Paul's corner.
Allready there is heavy traffic congestion for the public using Nelson Bay road. This extra congestion will ultimatly reduce the number of tourists comming to Port Stephens. It seems that one company can overrule commonsense & the public's saftey. It is another case of councilors getting elected for their own greed, & over rulling the the rate payers.

In my view, being a constant road user, I can see that the only rule that will apply,should truck movements increase on this road will be that of MIGHT is Right.
Paul's corner will become a no go zone and traffic flow will be impede to the degree that accidents will completely block the 'way', for long periods.
So too the road surface will be destroyed,making repair or rebuilding costs soar at the expense of ratepaters.
This project, in it's presernt state sholud NOT be allowed to proceed.

I object to the creation of additional traffic for the sole purpose of generating revenue for the Mayer at a faster rate. No one has actually canvased the residence to see if they actually want endless development destroying the village atmosphere which attracted us here in the first place.

I strongly object to this proposal. My reason is that the additional volume of traffic, particularly as it will be heavy goods vehicles, will add to the already high traffic volumes using this route. The Nelson Bay Road is the ONLY ESCAPE ROUTE for people living on the Tomaree Peninsula. Planning permission can not be granted, which will increase traffic volumes, making escape in the event of a bush fire and the need to leave the area, quickly, almost impossible.

I would like to strongly objet to the usage of Nelson Bay road for more trucks. We already have more than enough trucks on this small road. This is the only road between the Bay residents and Newcastle where a lot of residents work, shop and have medical specials and hospitals. A lot of the residents of the Bay are senior citizens and extra trucks will cause even more traffic hazards. The road would need to be 4 lane That is 2 lanes each way with a medium and good sized shoulders for this kid of regular traffic. This is also the road between Newcastle and the airport. Why are tax payers being asked to pay for a private mining venture? Does this sand belong to the people of this area and do we get the profits?

I object to this number of truck movements onto and off Nelson Bay Road without a study to see what the impact is given that the other sand site will also be using the Pauls Corner roundabout.

Dear Sir/Madam,
Re: Mackas Sand-Access Road Modification

I totally object to the assessment by TPK & Associates that the sand mining activity will not have an adverse impact on the road network of Nelson Bay Road Port Stephens.

The road with its existing "local" traffic load and greatly impacted upon during tourist season is already inadequate, it is beyond comprehension that this application would be considered.

As the Applicant/Developer will make "millions" at the expense of the residents and our only real industry "Tourism", any consideration of this application should include that the Applicant/Developer MUST pay for a dual carriageway each side of ALL roads that these trucks will be using within our Council area, and make on-going contributions to the maintance of these roads.

The Consenting Authority needs to seriously consider the future impact of this proposal on the majority usuers of Nelson Bay Road as the majority of the road is already inadequate and at times dangerous

This application should not be approved without further investigation of the traffic implications. The sand mine already has approval for access via Lavis Lane which minimises the impact on Nelson Bay Rd, which is already carries heavy traffic loads at peak times. The proposed access would see high volumes of additional heavy truck movements both ways along a narrow and already dangerous single carriageway section of Nelson Bay Rd, and around two heavily used roundabouts - one of them giving direct access to a shopping centre and school. The road is the only access to the Tomaree and Tilligerry peninsulas, meaning that any accidents on the section to be used would effectively close those areas with their combined populations of more than 25,000. Given the potential impact on traffic and safety, there seems no justification for varying the existing approval.

I oppose any change to the existing approval for movements via lavis lane into an existing high volume roundabout which would appear to meet ausroads standards.
Nelson Bay Road is the only route into and out of the Tomaree peninsula and the area has high bush fire exposure.
Although proposed to be a 4 lane divided road funds have not been allocated by RMS.
This proposal must be deferred until Nelson bay Road has been fully duplicated. The road carries major commuter traffic to RAAF Williamtown and commuters to Tomago Industrial precinct in adition to Newcastle.If the RMS wants to approve this modification it should allocate the funds for the duplication otherwise the existing approval via lavis lane must be left in place.
The conduct of trucks serving the current lot 220 extraction is of concern and their road behaviour is not likely to be mitigated.
If the developer is prepared to pay for the road duplication then the matter should be resubmitted at that time.

Nelson Bay Road is already congested, particularly during peak hours, weekends, long-weekends, public holidays & school holidays. The round-about at which Tanilba Bay and LemonTree Passage can be accessed is already extremely busy. It is common to have a line of traffic of 10, 15 , and more cars (coming from Nelson Bay), waiting to get through the round-about. The "Paul's Corner" round-about is a complex and busy one and getting through it safely is no mean task.
The population of Port Stephens is expected to grow to approx 73,000 by 2016. This will only exacerbate the traffic situation that already exists. Tourism is an important asset of Port Stephens bringing in at least $40 million each year. Tourists will go elsewhere if the road is allowed to become more congested with 'sand' truckss. I strongly object to the application because it is unsafe and will put road users' lives in greater danger.

See attached.