New The Forest High School

I have been a resident of the Madison Way Estate since it's inception and occupation since 2002 and therefore feel that I am in a position to make a few comments apropos the development;
DRAINAGE;
I do realise that provision has been made in the overall design for 3 water detention tanks but am not aware of their locations and the subsequent route of the water once the tanks overflow or drain slowly. The reason for this is that currently virtually all the water from the adjoining CPA is ultimately diverted into a pipe which then enters Madison Way Estate between house numbers 35 (Lot 6) & 37 (Lot 701) which then discharges into the drainage reserve behind our corner property at 30 Madison Way . During heavy downpours, the existing catchment run-off results in the stilling basin located to the south of the culverts to overflow and flow up against the dwarf wall of the fencing at the rear of our house, this potentially causing scouring of the foundations thereof. It is therefore imperative that no further water is allowed into the system . As some of the currently pervious surface is to be replaced by impervious surfaced games games courts, the run-off will increase and should not be drained into the existing system. I also note from your plans that the water from the playing field and underground staff parking MAY end up in the existing drainage system at the South West corner of the playing field. There does not appear to be any detail as yet as to how this water is disposed of suffice to say that, once again, it should not be allowed to enter the "Madison Way" system.
TRAFFIC;
Exiting Madison Way and turning right into Aquatic Drive is already a challenge due to the blind rise to the West of Madison Way which will no doubt get worse once the school opens ( not to mention the new Bunnings at Rodborough Road) as more vehicles will use the Aquatic Drive access at Wakehurst Parkway when coming from the Frenchs Forest school catchment area ( whether the Westbound traffic obeys the Left Only sign at Wakehurst Parkway on their return home remains to be seen !) . I also foresee additional bicycle/scooter traffic on the dedicated pathway on the South of Aquatic Drive,there is a chance that bicycles/scooters approaching at speed from the West at the existing pedestrian crossing at the intersection could cause problems to motorists exiting Madison Way. A long term solution (roundabout?) should be considered at this location and put in place sooner rather than later.

I am writing to provide objections and comments in relation to the State Significant Development Application.
I am a resident of Madison Way, which is a small residential street off Aquatic Drive. The impacts on our homes have not been adequately considered. Objections relate primarily to resident safety, traffic, and parking issues.

Objection 1: Location of kiss and drop along Aquatic Drive:
The proposed drop zone along the southern side of Aquatic Drive offers no safe way for people to turn around on Aquatic Drive to head back toward Allambie Road or out to Rodborough Road/Warringah Road.
People who drop their children and want to head out to Warringah Road or back down Allambie Road will have no other choice but to do an illegal U-turn in the middle of the street, come into Madison Way to turn around or all go down to the Aquatic Centre to turn around. This will cause a big accident risk.
In addition, the huge increase in traffic that will be driven by the kiss and drop along Aquatic Drive will make it almost impossible for residents of Madison Way to turn right safely out of the street during peak times, when we are also trying to go to work and drop our own children at school. This will also present a big accident risk particularly because of the poor visibility/blind corner at the intersection of Madison way and Aquatic Drive (owing to the rise of the road right near Madison Way).

Solution: A roundabout needs to be installed at the Madison Way Aquatic Drive intersection to enable cars to safely turn around and to also enable the cars of Madison Way to exit safely.

AND

Solution: Enable turn right at end of Aquatic drive onto Wakehurst Parkway, which is currently left hand only.


Objection 2: General traffic impacts have not been properly assessed in conjunction with other developments in the area:
A large Bunnings store has been approved for Rodborough Road. None of the traffic studies for the school development seemed to consider the increase in traffic that will occur as a result of this development, which is due to be completed before construction of the school begins.
The Bunnings development is not cited in any planning documentation. The planning documentation for the Bunnings store talks about increases in traffic along Lambie Road, Rodborough Road and aquatic drive. It is baffling to me why these increase traffic predictions have not been accounted for when designing the traffic management for the new school.
Solution: A new traffic management assessment needs to be undertaken as soon as possible which incorporates the traffic management study for the new Bunnings store.

Objection 3: Location of Bus Stops:
The proposed location of three new bus stops on Allambie Road just before the bends is dangerous and will lead to accidents.
Solution: Relocate the bus stops to Aquatic Drive as was communicated at the August community sessions and allow.

Objection 4. Two-hour parking limit/lack of student parking:
Adequate student parking has not been accounted for. It is reasonable that students in years 11 and 12 will want to drive to school, as they often have after-school activities including work to attend. Relying on public transport and school buses is not practical for these students.
The proposal to restrict parking on residential streets nearby to 2 hours will prevent students from parking there. It will however greatly inconvenience residents who have parked their cars there for decades.
Solution: Have 2-hour parking although provide 24/7 parking permits for households currently requiring them.
Solution: Build adequate student parking, consider using some of the aquatic centre/baseball field parking.

Objection 5. Parking "on-site" for sport/events on weekends and weeknights:
The proposed plan does not include parking for school or community events on weeknights or weekends leaving no suitable options for parents or community parking during these times. These are times at which the local residents will be parked in their own streets eliminating that as an option.
Solution: Open up school parking for sporting and community events at the school on weeknights and weekends

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the development of the new Forest High School.
I have two children currently attending the High School and am very excited by the development of and support a new school for our local community.
We currently live on Arnhem Road which is just across the road from the new school site on Allambie Road, Allambie Heights.
I don't wish to provide a lot of feedback other than on the topic of carparking. I understand that over 100 car parking spots will be provided on site for the teaching and support staff as part of the development. But that no provision has been made for student parking. As a local resident who will be impacted by students, parents and others forced to park on the nearby streets due to the low level of onsite parking, I think this number of parking spaces must be increased.
It may be that planning provisions did not previously account for student parking, however the current school has some provision for it plus it is increasingly common for students to drive to school. Failing to accommodate for the actual behaviour of students or for reasonable visitor parking is "head in the sand" planning that does not take into account the inevitable impact to local residents.
Arnhem Road is already significantly impacted by on street parking of cars and trailers, often making it a narrow thoroughfare with limited vision. The park on the street attracts young children who regular play on and around the street.
Please consider that reasonable amounts of parking to accommodate teachers, students and visitors should be an essential part of the development. Without on site parking, local traffic and safety will be negatively impact by what will be an otherwise positive development for our community.
Thank you,
Lisa Justice

I object most vigorously to the proposed restriction on parking within the school on non school days. To even consider that people park
their cars on the street is very poorly thought out for a number of reasons.

Firstly and most importantly is pedestrian safety. Allambie Heights proudly includes many members of our community which have intellectual or physical challenges. Many of these people either attend or reside in close proximity to the new school. Also included within our community and close to the new school are aged residents.

There are very few car parking spaces in the proximity of the school and on Allambie Rd.


Your proposal to force cars to park on an already busy road will jeopardise the safety of these vulnerable people. Your proposal to not allow parking within the school on seleted days will, be sure, cause a fatality. You are gambling with people's lives if you don't reverse your poorly considered parking plan.

Parking onsite must be made available for sporting and out of hours functions such as open evenings, p&c etc. There is literally nowhere to park around the new site. There should also be a circular kiss and drop inside the site, drive through in the underground CARPARK for example.

I object to the project. Allambie Road will not be able to carry the extra volume of traffic if this new high school goes ahead. There is a new Bunnings under construction on Allambie rd. As it is already the school hour traffic is banking several km back to Roosevelt rd. Add Bunnings and this new high school on a single lane Allambie Rd is an overload.
The traffic controls on Allambie Rd have be removed to make it 2 lanes each way if this is to go ahead.

I have looked at some of the information available and have been a bit overwhelmed by this.

I am extremely concerned about privacy and safety. I have lived at Allambie Heights for over 40 years. We have had two vehicles hit whilst waiting to enter our driveway and now drive around the back of Arnhem Road instead of turning right into our driveway when travelling north on Allambie Road. We have heard neighbours cars being hit, and even had a car come off the road into our fence after hitting the neighbours fence. I am constantly watching my mirror when trying to get into our driveway, yes with working indicators and brake lights.

I was relieved when plans were going to reduce the height of buildings. From the constant change in plans this has not always occurred and creates large shade over road and properties opposite. It will result in reduction of privacy and light to our property. I feel that standard building principles maintained in Allambie should apply to this site. That the trees also would need to be greatly increased along Allambie road to reduce noise and visual impact.

Pre Covid the traffic around 5pm would be bumper to bumper down past our place heading north up Allambie Road. This would occur on a regular basis. There would be times we would wait in that traffic to turn into Arnhem road to back track back to our home, so we could drive into our driveway safer than from the opposite side of the road. Even getting in and out of Arnhem road can be difficult, time consuming and dangerous.

We are lucky that we have several positions on our property to park our vehicles. Some of our neighbours do not have this facility and already use the current parking available on the site and in Arnhem Road.

To think that a lot of the students will be travelling on foot or bicycle is unrealistic as sections of Allambie are so steep. The bike lane can be seriously dangerous especially during peak hours on Allambie Road let alone along Wakehurst. I gave up bike riding on Allambie years ago due to the risk. I attended Mackellar Girls High and know how many drove to school, it would quickly make it impossible for locals to park during school hours.

The safety at specific times of the year with sun blindness is high.

The suggestion of having all bus stops and drop off in Aquatic Drive is the only option. Allambie Road is already dangerous and is a thoroughfare for the local hospital and emergency services. It is a Main road with a lot more traffic than it had even just a couple of years ago and people treat it like a thoroughfare hence being surprised when someone like us wants to turn into their own driveway.

I am very concerned about noise levels and would like more information on what is planned. Especially after 6pm (dinner time) and on Weekends.

We have looked at some of the information available and have been a bit overawed by this.

We are extremely concerned about privacy and safety. We have lived at Allambie Heights for over 40 years. We have had two vehicles hit whilst waiting to enter our driveway and now drive around the back of Arnhem Road instead of turning right into our driveway when travelling north on Allambie Road. We have heard neighbours cars being hit, and even had a car come off the road into our fence after hitting the neighbours fence.

We were relieved when plans were going to reduce the height of buildings. From the recent plans this has not occurred and now creates large shade over road and properties opposite. It will result in reduction of privacy and light to our property. We feel that standard building principles maintained in Allambie should apply to this site. That the trees also would need to be greatly increased along Allambie road to reduce noise and visual impact.

Pre Covid the traffic around 5pm would be bumper to bumper down past our place heading north up Allambie Road. This would occur on a regular basis. There would be times we would wait in that traffic to turn into Arnhem road to back track back to our home, so we could drive into our driveway safer than from the opposite side of the road.

We are lucky that we have several positions on our property to park our vehicles. Some of our neighbours do not have this facility and already use the current parking available on the site and in Arnhem Road.

To think that a lot of the students will be travelling on foot is unrealistic as sections of Allambie are so steep. The bike lane can be seriously dangerous especially during peak hours on Allambie Road let alone along Wakehurst. Having had our girls attend Mackellar Girls High and seen how many drove to school would quickly make it impossible for locals to park during school hours.

The safety at specific times of the year with sun blindness is high.

The suggestion of having all bus stops and drop off in Aquatic Drive is the only option. Allambie Road is already dangerous and is a thoroughfare for the local hospital and emergency services.

We too are concerned about noise levels and would like more information on what is planned.

Looking forward to a wonderful new school.
I recommend parking for students and an off-road kiss and drop area.
It is going to be a traffic nightmare and whoever has designed the traffic lights etc clearly has NEVER driven through Allambie. The traffic already banks up at that top roundabout.
An area for handball needs to be central to where the children sit and eat their recess and lunch - saying there are 'courts down the back' is pointless, they won't use them for handball.
Let's try and get kids off their phones and being active at lunch time, not making it harder for them.

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