New Maitland Hospital (Concept & Stage 1 Early Works)

Thank you for your letter dated 18 June 2018 inviting WaterNSW to comment
on the proposal. The proposal is not located near any WaterNSW land,
assets or infrastructure, and therefore has no particular comments or
requirements.

I reside 100m from the Metford Hospital construction site.
My family have had little impact from the construction in terms of
noise pollution so far, however the amount of dust coming into our
house has risen exponentially.

I would urge the planning group to consider that one road in and one road
out of the new hospital will lead to chaos. When 150 Allied Health
staff finish work at 4.30pm and all need to leave the one carpark it
will lead to horrendous traffic and wait times. I would urge the
planning group to consider the traffic that is built up at the John
Hunter Hospital for this exact reason and consider that there should
be more than one entry and exit point.

As a long term resident of Foveaux Crescent Metford and someone living
very close to the New Maitland Hospital site, I would like to express
my concerns about the thinning and potential removal of the existing
tree barrier along the southern boundary.
The area of influence comes right out to the boundary fence will this
require vegetation clearing in the early stage of earth works? Is this
correct? If so removing the large trees that currently provide the
existing buffer.
If this area be cleared as part of the early stages of construction,
it is only going to open up the residential area to increased noise
and dust?
Why can't additional trees not be planted now along the boundary fence
and in the cleared areas that will not be involved in the construction
site, why wait for four of five years to replant?
Already since work started on the construction site there has been a
change made a to the noise levels in our area; the coal trains that
you only sometimes heard of a night are now just a regular occurrence,
and the only thing that has changed is the number of the trees between
Metford and the rail corridor have been reduced.

Zone 1 be increased along the fence line at the edge of zone 2 so that it
is a continuous forest zone providing a noise barrier all along the
fence, helping to mitigate noise levels. At present Figure 9-2 on page
150 of the Early Works EIS shows a noise level of 70-72 dB(A) closest
the the residences of Foveaux Crescent. The continuous tree planting,
as soon as practicable, will help reduce noise during construction and
beyond. At present, according to the EIS, trees will be removed but
not replaced for up to 6 years. As a long time resident of Foveaux
Crescent, I can already discern the change in the noise level from
passing trains, as a result of trees being removed. Before this work
began trains were less audible. If a substantial barrier of trees was
planted all the way along the south fence, we would be less impacted
by noise.

In relation to your traffic data where many areas are predicted to have a
fail (F) level of service by 2032, if you conducted you're testing at
peak times now and not on an average you would find the system is
currently failing.

It is nothing to spend 8 to 10 minutes exiting Chelmsford Drive
roundabout at 8.30 AM or 3.00 PM and this is without the New Maitland
Hospital being open. I suggest the planned new traffic survey in July
and August 2018 will show the traffic flow problems are worse than
expected.

I note that the proposed corrective action is to modify the two
existing roundabouts by increasing the east to south side to two lanes
on the Chelmsford Drive roundabout and the addition of several extra
50 metre approach and departure lanes on both the Chelmsford and
Raymond Terrace road roundabouts.

The concerns with two lane roundabouts that go back to single lane
road creates problems with merging and slowing the traffic flow rate,
the fact that there will be three roundabouts on Metford Road within
1.1 kilometre this will also act as a check valve and again slow the
traffic flow rate down.

I note that it is recommended that parking will be restricted along
Metford Road, if this is to be the case why wasn't the road made a
little wider to make the road 4 lanes (2 lanes each direction)?

The fact it can at certain times take up to 10 minutes to exit the
Chelmsford Drive roundabout and the only corrective action is a
further traffic survey and a plan to sometime in the future to make
some modifications to the roundabouts. This shows a very reactive
approach.

The traffic flow rates are not going to reduce, the authorities should
take a proactive approach and future proof the traffic movement along
Metford Road and make Metford Road between Chelmsford Drive and
Raymond Terrace Road 4 lanes (2 lanes each direction). The traffic
along this road is only going to increase and not only with time but
with the number of new DA's already at council for new businesses
along Metford Road. Metford Road in its current form is just a
suburban road and the proposed changes don't look to address any
future traffic problems, this development and inevitable other
developments will create.

While I support the development of a new hospital, I don't believe
this is the right location and as a daily frequenter on this road, I
can not support this development in its current form as it does not
address or rectify any of the problems that will be created on the
roads.

see attached

I have reviewed the EIS document for Stage 1 of the New Maitland Hospital
. This duty was undertaken in my capacity as an officer of the Owner's
Corporation. A private interest component as one of the
owner/occupiers is declared.

The review period was short and clashed with end of financial year
duties. Hence the brevity of the submission and lack of a separate
personal submission. Closer and wider review of Stage 2 documents is
planned.

Generally I'm in favour of the selected site and usage proposed.
Medical services such as Burns and Cardiology Catheterisation would be
appreciated by the city and region.

More specific concerns and suggested mitigations are attached as file
attachment 1.

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See attached.

As a long term resident of Foveaux Crescent Metford and someone living
very close to the New Maitland Hospital site, I would like to take
this opportunity to express my concerns about several areas of the
proposed development.
These areas being: The proposed mature tree buffer on the southern
boundary and the traffic management plan for Metford Road.
Buffer Zone Southern Boundary
In the New Maitland Hospital concept and design EIS including the
Executive Summary, it mentions on numerous occasions the requirement
for the site is to provide a buffer to minimise the adverse impacts on
the visual, acoustic and solar amenity of the surround properties.
When looking into this further the southern area of influence comes
right out to the boundary fence which would require vegetation
clearing in the early stage of earth works. So removing the large
trees (probably 40 or 50 years old) that currently provide the
existing buffer.
So there will be no buffer zone on south eastern corner of the area of
influence from early in the construction.
Why has the area of influence got to come right out to the boundary?
Why can't a section of say, 10 metres wide area be maintained along
the boundary thus saving some of the existing mature growth trees?
Why must this area be cleared as part of the early stages of
construction, as it is only going to open up the residential area to
increased noise and dust?
Why can't additional trees not be planted now along the boundary fence
and in the cleared areas that will not be involved in the construction
site, why wait for four of five years to replant?
Already since work started on the construction site there has been a
change made a to the noise levels in our area; the coal trains that
you only sometimes heard of a night are now just a regular occurrence,
and the only thing that has changed is the number of the trees between
Metford and the rail corridor have been reduced.
In your risk assessment for noise in construction and operation you
come up with numbers of 13 and 17 but what are the controls to address
risk levels? The only action I can see is it will be made worse by
removing more trees and thinning the existing vegetation.
The area of greatest impact with the construction on the New Maitland
Hospital will be to the residents of Foveaux Crescent that back onto
the existing reserve; this impact will be made a lot worse with the
removal of the mature tree buffer along the southern boundary.
Traffic Management Plan for Metford Road.
In relation to your traffic data where many areas are predicted to
have a fail (F) level of service by 2032, if you conducted you're
testing at peak times now and not on an average you would find the
system is currently failing.
It is nothing to spend 8 to 10 minutes exiting Chelmsford Drive
roundabout at 8.30 AM or 3.00 PM and this is without the New Maitland
Hospital being open.
I suggest the planned new traffic survey in July and August 2018 will
show the traffic flow problems are worse than expected.
I note that the proposed corrective action is to modify the two
existing roundabouts by increasing the east to south side to two lanes
on the Chelmsford Drive roundabout and the addition of several extra
50 metre approach and departure lanes on both the Chelmsford and
Raymond Terrace road roundabouts.
The concerns with two lane roundabouts that go back to single lane
road creates problems with merging and slowing the traffic flow rate,
the fact that there will be three roundabouts on Metford Road within
1.1 kilometre this will also act as a check valve and again slow the
traffic flow rate down.
I note that it is recommended that parking will be restricted along
Metford Road, if this is to be the case why wasn't the road made a
little wider to make the road 4 lanes (2 lanes each direction)?
The fact it can at certain times take up to 10 minutes to exit the
Chelmsford Drive roundabout and the only corrective action is a
further traffic survey and a plan to sometime in the future to make
some modifications to the roundabouts. This shows a very reactive
approach.
The traffic flow rates are not going to reduce, the authorities should
take a proactive approach and future proof the traffic movement along
Metford Road and make Metford Road between Chelmsford Drive and
Raymond Terrace Road 4 lanes (2 lanes each direction).
Do it once and do it right!