Pacific Brook Christian School

Pacific Brook Christian School is a great school that is positively impacting families and the community.

The school has outgrown its current site and needs a larger property to accommodate the increasing amount of students.

Pacific Brook Christain School Proposal 14th Dec 2021
As a casual teacher working across many schools in the Muswellbrook Shire I experience, as the teacher on duty, the business of morning and afternoon of student arrivals and departures via many buses - a minimum of fours buses up to eight, and parent vehicles.
I am AGAINST this proposal as it is NOT A SAFE LOCATION for children to be dropped off to the Pacific Brook Mailtand St school proposed site by the many buses that will be needed for K to year 12 students and multitudes of parents vehicles because:
1. This Pacific Brook School site is proposed on the New England Highway, Maitland St Muswellbrook.
This is the MAIN road entering into East Muswellbrook and along into the original township of Muswellbrook and onto north Muswellbrook ( this submission did NOT mention that Maitland St is the New England Highway or the MAIN rd through Muswellbrook.) SO IT IS ALWAY BUSY WITH TWO LANES of TRAFFIC EACHWAY.

2. The site only has a 15 vehicle car park proposed, and when I work at Denman K-6 Catholic school with only 7 classes, they have 14 staff every day. So where will a school or K to Y12 park all the other staff and delivery vechiles?
They must not park on the road kerbside as it is NO STANDING or in Golf course carpark or McDonald as it is extremely unsafe to walk across this busy Highway

3. This proposal has NOT PROVIDED safe parking inside the grounds for the MANY parent vehicles when:
a)students are dropped off each morning
b) students picked up each afternoon
c) parents attending school weekly assemblies
d) daily parent volunteers during the day for canteen, reading support, fund raising events etc
e) parents and grandparents attending school special functions and events - day or night

3.The proposed site has NO PARKING totally along the roadside of Maitland St for its full length, as a safety measure because with McDonald's being opposite.
The kerbside is a NO PARKING area, so cars will not park for pedestrians walking across a very busy road which is very dangerous to both walkers and drivers risking lives
And just as dangerous it is, for passengers to get in and out of parked vehicles along this busy 2 lane highway. There have already been death of students in NSW, over the past few years with such incidents.

4. So where do parents drop children off at school? The entry and exit proposed is oneway and only one vechile width, so what happens when buses and parents' vehicles both enter?
Just the 8 buses that currently attend St James Muswellbrook would definitely NOT fit along the proposed access road safely. Where will all the parents park cars while waiting to pick up their children? Or even for 'Kiss and Drop?Currently, St James Muswellbrook have up to 20 to 30 vehicles lined up every afternoon to pick up children which extends out of the school's very long front entry driveway, spilling out along the road side edge, at least this is not a busy Highway!

5. This is not a proposed public school where most of the families live in walking distance to safely walk children to and from school. And most are working families to be able to pay school fees and often after-school care will be arranged, so again another bus for OOSH to fit along the short entry-exit road.

6. Often parents park in the school grounds or along the curbside ( such as Muswellbrook South) before buses arrive. So where will parents park?

4. Presently it is an extremely busy highway, and even when the bypass is completed it will REMAIN BUSY as those living in south Muswellbrook and East Links suburbs drive their children to and from Muswellbrook South Primary school, or the High School, or sporting facilities, and past this proposed location to other services or work locations in Muswellbrook. And MANY cars drive from the Muswellbrook town centre and North suburb to shop at the Muswellbrook Fair , Aldi and Motor sales at Rutherford st which runs off Maitland st and Toyota which is actually in Maitland St .
SO ALL THESE CARS WILL CONTINUE to PASS THE PACIFIC BROOK SCHOOL LOCATION! And as the town becomes bigger with new residential stages just opened at IRONBARK estate and North Muswellbrook, it is only going to become extremely busier!
For the safety of our children in the community Pacific Brook Christian School of Muswellbrook, and the adults that need to visit the school for various reasons on any given day, please DO NOT approve this school to be located on Mailtand St Muswellbrook, instead have it be approved for their 2nd or 3rd location mentioned in their submission reports.

I have run out of time as usual trying to review a massive amount of documents knowing that my submission will be given the same weight as others who are paid to complete this. It is also very disheartening that I make submissions and try and improve my community and the state government has such a shameful aviodance of responsibility particularly regarding the climate emergency. I would like to get a reply.
Please read my submission carefully as I didn't have time to edit it into a easy to read package that flows.
Attachment didn't work - in here
While I have not had the opportunity to visit the potential development site, it is clear that the ongoing failure to require proper assessment of climate change impacts and flooding is demonstrated in this development. I note the ENTIRE development is within the maximum flood level from data that is now out of date and underestimates the flood levels. This is a high risk and should be clearly stated throughout the reports and summeries but is not. I also note that climate change impacts are not assessed or even mentioned in the flooding assessment. While the ESD report does mention climate change, it does not assess or introduce any further required assessments despite providing strong reason to do so. In addition to this, the report states the development will increase the amount of flooding to nearbye communities in its current form. The failure to properly assess flooding by avioding the likely scenarios in favour of what has happened previously goes against proper scientific assessment processes as it biases previous inundation heights (old data) over new data. It underestimates recent rainfall statistics including larger scale weather patterns and climatic changes. This underestimation is a high risk strategy and denies any ability of a precautionary approach in development assessment and community infrastructure position choice. When you are talking about the lives of children, I disagree with the risking of life, health and welfare due to avoiding proper assessment and obfiscation using old data denying climatological processes currently in play today.
In the current environment with rapidly changing weather patterns not including proper safety assessments using the evidence equates to avoidance of responsibility under the EP and A Act and societal requirements to improve welfare. Approving this development that is highly likely to flood within the next 20 years above the previous flooding line and that will inundate and impact infrastructure potentially taking life is against proper planning. If this development is to go ahead, it should be made fundamentally clear, the school is to have an early warning system for flooding and evacuation processes. It should also be made clear, this development will increase the flooding and costs to nearbye properties. Without these property owners being made aware through active communication, loss of amenity will be forced on the community which is unfair and may require compensation at a later date.
While I am not against the provision of a school in the area, the lack of flooding impact assessment, notification of neighbouring properties and with a complete failure to incorperate climate change impacts means I can not support this development in its current form.
The ongoing failure of this government to include all key planning principles in development approval processes and include planning principles that are not key has and continues to put life and community at risk. As it stands, this development will lower the community resilience in an area of already low resilience due to the failure of the development approval system to include proper planning principles particularly for infrastructure development. I do not support the lowering of resilience when there is a clear need to increase resilience through incorperating planning into the development control system. As there are no planned towns in NSW, it is clear the government has failed to incorperate planning into the community increasing costs and risks far above required. I understand development approval requires compromise but when we are loosing irreplacable values and there is a net loss of amenity and biodiversity replaced with profits often removed from the area soon after as a standard process, the development approval system does not serve the community as it should. I do not support the major projects approval process as it denies the community (including the Aboriginal community) input into their future with the ministerial discression potentially overriding all evidence. If there is going to be a continuation of ignoring planning principles, at least let the community decide, not developers.
I support the idea for a new school in the area. It is required. I do not support the continued denial of a changing climate and the adhoc development that currently drives our community design.
This development has failed to take into account the key factors influencing life currently. The mass extinction event humans are causing in the Hunter valley has not even been detailed let alone the requirement of the maintain and improve outcomes from the Biodiversity Conservation Act. In addition to this, the lack of long term infrastructure required to service growth can not be justified. The ignorance of the very climate induced risks as listed in the ESD report with no real actions of how to mitigate or even manage these risks gives rise to questions about what will be the repercussions for this development and the humans put at risk.
Overall, I request you require a detailed climate induced flood risk assessment, increased provision of offsets from lost threatened species habitats and notification to nieghbouring properties that this approval is underway and there opportunity to have input into a development that may significantly impact their lives and livelyhood be included.
Thankyou for your time

Muswellbrook Shire Council submission attached