Redevelopment of President Private Hospital

Good afternoon,

Please find attached my submission against DPE Development Proposal SSD10320 - President Private Hospital Kirrawee NSW 2232, for your review and response.

I have been advised that this or a similar proposal has already been declined twice by Sutherland Shire Council and recall when the proposed demolition of Hotham House was vetoed approximately a year ago after significant public outcry, yet here we are again, with these non-community minded developers, who likely do not even live in our shire, persistent in their quest to decimate our heritage buildings and disrupt local Shire residents’ right to a tranquil lifestyle for their own gain.

Main points of objection:

• To demolish Hotham House would be to destroy one of the few historic buildings we have left in our beautiful shire. We cannot let this happen.
• To raise the initial level of buildings up to 3 storeys would not only be out of character for this quiet residential area but also a gross invasion upon local residents privacy. Multi – level buildings will impact significantly on the immediate area residents, particularly the elderly and single person households in relation to their ongoing mental health and physical safety. Shire residents have a right to a privacy on their own properties and living alongside a multi – level building of this nature would be like having a permanent drone hovering over your house, with strangers looking in your windows, front and backyard areas, 24/7. There does not appear to have been any consideration for the existing local residents health and safety in this area.
• In relation to further safety risks:
o the intersection of Hotham Road/ President Ave/Grays Point Road is already a dangerously busy intersection, particularly when turning right or left from Grays Point Road or Hotham Road into President Ave. in addition, attempting to enter Hotham Road from Bidurgal Avenue, in either direction, is dangerous given President Hospital Staff currently park along Hotham Road and in Bidurgal Ave, therefore visibility for residents entering Hotham Road from Bidurgal Ave is extremely limited. This can be frightening if you do not see vehicles coming until the last second, particularly from the direction of the President Hospital, where there has already been a number of near misses. These safety risks will no doubt escalate if this proposal is allowed to proceed.
o Bidurgal Ave is already becoming a traffic chicane given many households in the street have multiple vehicles, therefore with 10 times the amount of staff working at the hospital, it would become impossible for residents to park on the street given the hospital operates 24/7. This is without considering a lengthy period of construction where hundreds of workers/site visitors/staff would require parking. There has been no consideration for the existing Bidurgal Ave residents who may be chronically unwell or elderly in relation to where their service providers would park eg. lawn mower service, house cleaner, daily medical assistance/carer, ambulance or police, let alone visitor such as family and friends. Bidurgal Ave is too narrow and cannot sustain such an increase in traffic without consequences in relation to the safety of those currently using this area.

Hotham House needs to remain where it is as part of our proud Shire heritage and the residential area surrounding this proposed development is simply not structured to accommodate such an immense and ongoing business operation.
For the reasons stated above and as detailed in my below additional submission, I am asking you to do whatever is in your power to ensure that the proposed demolition and building proposal does not proceed.

Firstly, the proposed demolition of Hotham House is totally in conflict with the recent Heritage protection which came about after many members of the local community voiced their concerns against it. It is one of very few historic buildings left in our shire and we want to keep it.

Secondly, I believe Sutherland Shire Council has declined this proposal or similar development applications twice in the past by deeming it as not appropriate for the area. The local area has been peacefully residential for over 60 years and this proposed development will intrude on the peace, tranquillity, and quiet enjoyment of residents. Bidurgal Ave contains elderly residents who take walking as exercise in the local streets and bear in mind that these residents came to this street well before the facility was built. I can recall the facility promising my neighbours that there would never be any future expansion outward or upward.

It is clearly evident from viewing the plans that the proposed redevelopment will be most invasive to Bidurgal Ave residents, specifically impacting on No 8, No 6, however also negatively impacting on No 5, No 3 and No 1. The development has proposed to demolish 2 existing residential houses in Bidurgal Ave and if this occurs it will ruin the residential nature of the street and create increased health and safety risks to the children, elderly and other local residents who use this road.

Bidurgal Ave is not an arterial road, however, should these plans be approved it will become one. Bidurgal Ave and other local street residents will suffer from loss of existing street parking due to facility staff and visitors not wishing to pay for parking. There also appears to be stairway access from Bidurgal Ave into the facility grounds alongside No 6 Bidurgal Ave which indicates that the facility is already expecting this to occur. This entryway access will automatically create a security risk to nearby residents without going into further detail.

The proposed facility will negatively impact on those residents with more than one vehicle in the household, which is relevant to most households in Bidurgal Ave; elderly residents who have daily medical care visits; visits from family or friends; food or other deliveries; and regular service providers such as lawn mowing, cleaners, gardeners, or even Police or Ambulance if ever required There will be non-existent parking for these vehicles. Bidurgal Ave is a narrow road and cannot accommodate heavy traffic or more vehicles than it already does. The proposed development will compromise and further decrease access to residential parking as the construction and other related workers and facility visitors will be using the immediate local streets for a very long period given the substantial size of the project.

In addition, the construction will produce unwanted and excessive noise, creating prolonged unwanted disruption and permanent disruption of the current peaceful environment and relaxed lifestyle.

The timing of this proposal raised immediate questions given it was just prior to the 2020 Christmas break and occurred during a pandemic (COVID-19), which has been extremely distressing for all. This proposal release appears to have been structured knowing there would be limited exposure to the community during the Christmas holidays and decreased distribution of the local Leader newspaper thereby minimising the potential submissions against the proposal. The proposal has already been declined twice by Sutherland Shire Council for this area, yet developers have persisted in going over their head. This automatically raises questions over its integrity.

The Leader Newspaper quoted that Macquarie Health Corporation deputy chief executive David Wenkart stated that "The redevelopment will provide employment for upwards of 700 hundred jobs to predominately local healthcare and construction workers" and that there will be new hospital entrance from Hotham Road to facilitate easier access 110 inpatient beds providing surgical, medical and rehabilitation care plus a 72-bed mental health facility. The immediate area is not structured for such an impact and cannot sustain such an impact.

Many local residents and concerned Sutherland Shire Community residents have asked via Facebook what they can do to prevent this proposal and have been provided the link to the DPE portal, however, given the complex nature of registering etc on this portal, particularly for elderly or non-computer educated residents, I fear their strong opinions and concerns against this proposal may not be heard.

The significant development proposal is not something that the local area can accommodate or assimilate to and for all the reasons stated above, in all sincerity, I strongly request that the proposal be declined.

I object to the project because of the impact on local residents during construction, and the ongoing operational impact on residents of the local area once the redevelopment is complete.

Construction: Construction projects such as this involve large numbers of trase people who will expect to park locally. There is virtually no street parking around the hospital for these workers, inevitably forcing them to park on North West Arm Rd, south of President Avenue where residents currently struggle to park their cars. The impact on residents from parking limitations in front of their own homes and the increased construction related traffic will cause substantial loss of amenity to the residents of the area over an extended period of time. The construction activity will also significantly increase risk of collision and injury due to the increased construction traffic. This is an unacceptable degradation of a residential environment, and creates significant risk to the residents from the direct impact of construction workers congregating near the President Av corner.

Operations: The hospital is poorly located on a main road (president Ave) with access only from a narrow local street. Traffic associated with the ongoing operation of the hospital will create a high risk traffic situation around the President Ave/ Nth West Arm Rd intersection, even given the proposed traffic enhancements associated with the project proposal. In addition, hospital workers and visitors will overwhelm the local streets looking for parking. As there is effectively no street parking north of President Ave in the vicinity of the hospital, this parking demand will result on ongoing significant impacts on the residential area south of President Avenue. This situation is clearly demonstrated in the streets around Sutherland Hospital and Kareena Hospital. Again, this traffic congestion that is inevitably associated with hospital precincts will create a high risk environment for all concerned - local residents and people seeking local street parking because of the limited parking available in the hospital grounds under the proposal. While the proposal currently assumes free parking on site, every hospital in Sydney eventually implements significant parking charges as a way of improving profitability. This will force staff and visitors on to local streets with an unacceptable impact on local residents, and will create a dangerous situation on a road that is already subject to subject to significant traffic congestion.

This project is clearly driven by the desire of Macquarie Health Corporation to create a hospital that is highly profitable and which draws customers from a wide area, without any regard for the impact of such a development project on the local residents. The impact of the resulting road congestion will also lower land values, meaning the Macquarie Health profitability comes as a result of potentially significant loss of property value for local residents. Corporations such as Macquarie Health should not be permitted to put profit above all else and use their corporate weight to cancel the rights of people who live in the area and, in many cases, have done so for a long time.

Alterations and additions to President Private Hospital
Demolish historic Hotham House 65 Hotham Road, Gymea.
I would like to submit my very strong objection to the demolition of Hotham House as part of the Macquarie Health development.

Dear Sir
As a born and resident citizen of the sutherland shire for 68 years i am appalled at how we have to fight to save the few remaining historical buildings in our area,'' THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODERN AUSTRALIA'' Macquarie Health Corporation apparently show no interest or respect in the sutherland shires history or for that mater Australia's history and intend to push their agenda all the way to the top in the name of over development and ever bigger profits. Hotham House was heritage listed in 2020 by our state government,yet they refuse to accept the umpires decision. It would be difficult to drive down hotham road without admiring the beauty of this old mansion built in 1912 and still in remarkable condition , giving you a glimpse into another time and era of our shires history. We have a response ability to preserve it for future generations to witness just as we have. If it was to be destroyed it would be a tragic mistake, gone forever from our history.

My particular concerns with this project relate to: (1) the demolition of Hotham House (2) the loss of a relatively quiet residential atmosphere in the area.

(1) Hotham House is a picturesque, historic building that adds wonderful character to the street and local area. The hospital that is planned to replace it will be an unremarkable glass and concrete structure. Nothing in the proposal goes anywhere towards replacing this loss of character. Hotham House is also over 100 years old and provides a link to the early European history of the area. While it is true that such houses are common closer to the centre of the city, in Sutherland they are quite rare and provide a reminder of a time before the area was covered with plain residential housing. When I first moved to the area a decade ago the house and its first owner's colourful story was a conversation point that helped when getting to know the neighbours and thus provides a certain focal point for the local community.

I note also that the local community has recently made clear its wish to retain Hotham House through a formal vote of council, which has led to heritage listing. Around 100 objections to the previous plans to demolish the house were received prior to this vote. Any destruction of this house thus represents an overriding of local democracy, and it is clear that this is against the wishes of many local residents.

(2) The current single-storey hospital blends in well with the area and has nicely incorporated the existing Hotham House into its functioning. The hospital as planned will tower over the surroundings and spoil the suburban quality of Hotham Road.

Among the proponent's justifications for destruction of heritage, worsening street outlook, and overriding local democratic decisions are:

(1) the projected need for the services that the hospital will provide. The only numbers provided by the proponent appear to be some simple projections of population growth. It is not demonstrated that there are e.g. long waiting times for private inpatient mental health care in Sutherland Shire, or that future demand would be unmet by existing or planned private and public health infrastructure. It should also be noted that private health insurance is held by around 56% of the Australian population (generally the wealthier segments), so the benefit of the hospital is not available to all sectors of the community either equitably or equally, unlike the existing heritage building.
(2) Improved staff retention, more modern standards of care,improved safety, improved amenity etc: Many of these benefits could be obtained by simply modernising the existing hospital. I note that 3 of the properties comprising the project are residential buildings whose sites could be available for building extensions. I could not find in the documents any explanation for the need to completely rebuild the site instead of enhancing or rebuilding on the existing footprint + residential houses.
(3) Economic benefits: people do not choose to be unhealthy. In Australia, sick people will be looked after, either in the public or private systems. Therefore, the economic activity associated with health care is unavoidable. Building a new hospital does not create more sick people, and therefore does not, of itself, create long-term economic benefits. The process of building does represent additional economic activity, but is a drop in the ocean of Sydney construction and not of itself enough to justify the loss of heritage.

TfNSW Response

Please see attached TfSNW response.

I object to this project on a few fronts.

1. The building of a significantly different and larger structure across a much broader area of land will have a huge impact on traffic congestion in the area, both during construction and following its completion. The intersection of President Avenue and Hotham Road/NW Arm Road, is already a very busy one, and the ability for local residents to move around safely and efficiently will be impacted by this project. President Avenue traffic is often banked back to this intersection from Acacia Road to the west and Gymea Bay Road to the east. Even now, access to the hospital is both difficult and at times dangerous.

2. Whilst I am sure that there will be parking provided by the owners of the hospital, it is evident from people behaviour around other hospitals in the area, that visitors to the hospital will look for on street parking that will not cost them anything. They will do this rather than pay for the parking that is provided. This behaviour will exacerbate the congestion issues that I have highlighted in 1. above. On street parking will also further disrupt the local residents movement in and out of their properties in the immediate area.

3. The size of the building, three stories as I understand, will detract from the aesthetics of the immediate local area where the maximum dwelling size is two story. As a single story structure, the current hospital blends in well with the surrounding area. The establishment of this large structure will potentially impact property values in the area also. There is a question around the need for this additional medical facility in the area when there are already significant facilities, both public and private, that are not that far away.

4. During the construction period of this project, which is likely to be lengthy, the surrounding area will suffer from increased noise from heavy vehicle traffic, earthmoving equipment, construction equipment and general construction noise. We experienced this with the construction of South Village over an extended period of time. This is not a pleasant experience, nor does to contribute to a relaxing and pleasant lifestyle that the Kirrawee/Gymea area is renowned for.

5. From what I can ascertain from the documents included with the project exhibition, the development includes the demolition of the single story pre war dwelling on Hotham Road, often referred to as Hotham House. This building is unique in the local area and provides a link back to the history of the Sutherland Shire, being a "farm house" on a significant property at the time. Australia is young in history, yet it seems that developers are keen to remove this history with no thought of the value that it provides to the residents of the area. Many challenge the importance of this building and comment that if it was so important, then why has it not been Heritage Listed! The value that this property provides as part of our history, is significant. My personal view is that Heritage Listing was not considered as the buildings importance was a given, and thought of demolishing it is unthinkable. My preference is that the project should not proceed, but my cynical part of me says that the project will proceed. Assuming that is the case, surely the developers can find a means of retaining this structure and making it an integral part of the development plans to retain this unique structure for the future residents of the area.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on this project. I trust that good old common sense will prevail, and the "greed" of the organization wishing to develop this property will not overshadow the impacts that this project will have on the lives of many residents in the area whose peace and relaxed lifestyle have already been impacted by many other projects in the area.

Please accept my submission to Oppose the demolition of Hotham House to make way for alterations and additions to President Private Hospital.
I have viewed the proposed plans by Macquarie Health and its appointed architects and see nothing more than a land grab to build a concrete jungle in a residential area. The plans show several stories with a grand entrance and road access less than 50 metres from a busy intersection (President Ave and North West Arm & Hotham Road). Any ambulance bay with access from Hotham Road would be a disaster for traffic.
I have no doubt that the proposed extra inpatient beds and a mental health facility would be welcomed in the Shire but this site is not large enough nor in an appropriate area. When President Private Hospital opened in 1992 it did so with the understanding that Hothan House was next door and clearly made allowances for its integration for hospital use. Why can't the appointed architects figure out a way to incorporate Hotham House into its design? This has been achieved in many new builds where important historical buildings were shown consideration and respect. Were the architects given direction from Macquarie Health Corp to achieve an ordinary office lookalike structure over the cost of incorporating the beautiful 1912 historic Hotham House building?
Sadly, the Sutherland Shire has had substantial growth with massive overdevelopment with the nearby BrickPit - South Village and we are led to believe that this warrants the demolition of a Historic house to facilitate further community needs. This is rubbish.
So are you we going to pave paradise to put up a Parking Lot?
Please find another way and save and respect Hotham House.

Objection as detailed in attachment

Attached are Heritage NSW comments for Aboriginal cultural heritage matters.

Dear Mr Stokes,
I would like you to consider my objections to the proposal from the Macquarie Health Corporation Ltd (MHC) to destroy the heritage listed Hotham House and proceed with building a three storey health complex in our low density residential zone. My objections are these;
1) Hotham House is unique, important and significant and rightly listed on the Sutherland Shire's Heritage list. Not only is it a beautiful example of federation architecture, but is the only one in the Sutherland Shire with connections to rural activities. The other federation style properties listed are predominantly boatsheds and cottages.
2) The hospital as planned, will create huge safety risks to the local residents, especially young children on their way to and from school. We have two school age children who cross Hotham Road every day to get to school and back. This proposal will have them crossing a very busy street with trucks and constructions workers, and then the cars of triple the number of staff and visitors as there is today. Additionally, our street; Badto Avenue, will become dangerous to to walk on, as will other nearby streets with this tripling of related traffic to the hospital. I have used the expansion in bed numbers to calculate the increase.
3) Parking will become extremely difficult to find for us and our visitors. The plans for the hospital state there are currently 52 car parks available on-site and all free of payment. The future plan is to have 104. Of these, 64 are for staff which caters for a tripling of staff, but for visitors the numbers stay the same as today. Using the same maths the planners have used to work out how many staff carparks to build, we should expect 90 visitor carspaces to be needed (there are 30 or so today) yet only 40 will be built. Where will the extra 50 visitors park? This suburb will be constantly filled with visitors desperately trying to find a spot, holding up traffic flow and making it even less safe for children and the rest of the residents.
4) This development will bring significant detriment to the local area. The local residents currently have a quiet, safe, low density suburb with a beautiful heritage home to walk past of an evening. This plan will change that to having a noisy, dangerous and over-developed structure dominating the landscape and bringing enormous difficulties with it. You would not want this built 50m from your home, on the path your children walk to school! Please don't do this to our home and our children.
5) I am also concerned that the plan is to have a very large mental health facility within this hospital. We understand there is a huge need for facilities of this kind, but they need to be in an area that can handle any issues that may arise from it, with adequate security provided for these patients and the people they may interact with. If we have patients with mental health issues that could make them dangerous to themselves or others, who are free to leave the facility, there is a high risk of local residents being in danger also.

I sincerely hope you reject this proposal, and instead look at a refit of the site that preserves Hotham House and maintains the same or comparable patient numbers.