St Catherine's School - Upgrade

The current state at St Catherine's has not taken into account its major contribution to traffic congestion at start and finishing time of school. No expansion should be allowed until St Catherine's addresses the problem. Bringing more people into the area is obviously going to worsen the situation. St Catherine's has next to no parking on site and no drop off or pick up zones for students. I constantly have people parking over my driveway and see them dropping off in very unsafe ways like in no stopping zones, in the middle of the road and in bus stops. The parents and students have no consideration of nearby residents. This needs to be addressed by the school. Has the school done a survey on the number of students who drive or are driven to school? If so what are the results? What if anything is being done by the school to address the problem? I have seen the situation worsen over the last 5 years.

The NSW Department of Planning & Environment
Major Projects Assessments
Planning Service
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
RE: SSD 6339 St Catherine's School Campus Master Plan and Stage 1 development
I am writing to object strongly to the Masterplan DA and Stage 1 proposals currently before the Department of Planning & Environment as lodged by St Catherine's School, 26 Albion Street, Waverley.
* I object to further overdevelopment of the School campus with all new buildings reaching over the allowable height of 9.5 metres and part over 19 metres. I object to the justification for this excess being that many buildings on the site already exceed 9.5 metres.100% over the height limit for the area.
* I object to more buildings exceeding the allowable density, or FSR (floor space ratio) of 0.6:1. Already the school is 50% over the density for the zone, and 1:1 is proposed, taking it to more than 80% over the limit. Open space, trees and gardens on the site are vanishing.
The excessive size of this proposal contrasts the school starkly with surrounding residential property. Buildings already loom over homes, blocking light, air and views. This will get worse.
* I object to the lack of a comprehensive and sustainable transport plan. The school is increasing its dependence on individual car based transport for over 600 of its students, clogging up all surrounding streets for drop offs and pick-ups. A new entry on Macpherson Street will draw students away from the Albion Street bus hub, not towards it;
* I object to the school's expectation that teachers, staff, cleaners and other services people must park in local streets because the school does not provide enough on-site parking;
* I object to proposed year round, regular use of the new indoor heated pool complex, and more noise and disturbance coming from early morning and evening swimming sessions putting more strain onto local streets for parking;
* I object to the likelihood of more noise and disturbance coming from more events at the new theatre and entertainment terrace, relying on local streets for parking;
* I object to the lack of adequate parking on the school site. The school relies on local streets, including for teachers, volunteer and office staff, and tradies vehicles during construction.
All other landlocked private schools in the region provide staff and visitors with an on-site parking station. Why not St Catherine's?
I object to St Catherine's not taking into account cumulative effects of congestion from nearby developments including Loretto at 363-7 Bronte Road, Bronte RSL at 113 Macpherson Street, and 60-place Child Care Centres each at 23 Macpherson Street and Bronte Bowling Club,16 Wallace Street.
St Catherine's is diversifying into commercial activities and should comply with planning controls for parking, on site drop off and pick ups, active travel, hours of operation, caps on student numbers and the provision of annual lists of major events to Council and the Precincts.
Yours faithfully
Shara Quinn & Paul Sewell

The NSW Department of Planning & Environment
Major Projects Assessments
Planning Service
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
RE: SSD 6339 St Catherine's School Campus Master Plan and Stage 1 development
I am writing to object strongly to the Masterplan DA and Stage 1 proposals currently before the Department of Planning & Environment as lodged by St Catherine's School, 26 Albion Street, Waverley.
* I object to further overdevelopment of the School campus with all new buildings reaching over the allowable height of 9.5 metres and part over 19 metres. I object to the justification for this excess being that many buildings on the site already exceed 9.5 metres.100% over the height limit for the area.
* I object to more buildings exceeding the allowable density, or FSR (floor space ratio) of 0.6:1. Already the school is 50% over the density for the zone, and 1:1 is proposed, taking it to more than 80% over the limit. Open space, trees and gardens on the site are vanishing.
The excessive size of this proposal contrasts the school starkly with surrounding residential property. Buildings already loom over homes, blocking light, air and views. This will get worse.
* I object to the lack of a comprehensive and sustainable transport plan. The school is increasing its dependence on individual car based transport for over 600 of its students, clogging up all surrounding streets for drop offs and pick-ups. A new entry on Macpherson Street will draw students away from the Albion Street bus hub, not towards it;
* I object to the school's expectation that teachers, staff, cleaners and other services people must park in local streets because the school does not provide enough on-site parking;
* I object to proposed year round, regular use of the new indoor heated pool complex, and more noise and disturbance coming from early morning and evening swimming sessions putting more strain onto local streets for parking;
* I object to the likelihood of more noise and disturbance coming from more events at the new theatre and entertainment terrace, relying on local streets for parking;
* I object to the lack of adequate parking on the school site. The school relies on local streets, including for teachers, volunteer and office staff, and tradies vehicles during construction.
All other landlocked private schools in the region provide staff and visitors with an on-site parking station. Why not St Catherine's?
I object to St Catherine's not taking into account cumulative effects of congestion from nearby developments including Loretto at 363-7 Bronte Road, Bronte RSL at 113 Macpherson Street, and 60-place Child Care Centres each at 23 Macpherson Street and Bronte Bowling Club,16 Wallace Street.
St Catherine's is diversifying into commercial activities and should comply with planning controls for parking, on site drop off and pick ups, active travel, hours of operation, caps on student numbers and the provision of annual lists of major events to Council and the Precincts.
Yours faithfully
Anna & Cameron Kennard

I am writing to express my concern about the proposed overdevelopment of the St Catherines School site.

I particularly object to the plan to put a large theatre in a residential neighbourhood which will create noise and traffic at night.

The plan is very poorly thought out because it allows for only 19 extra car spaces on site for a development that will clearly create far greater traffic and parking problems than currently exist.

All of us who live in Waverley are well aware that our small streets are choked at peak hours already, and parking is already difficult as many residences do not have off-street parking.

Any large development that exacerbates the problem will further compromise the quality of life of local residents.

The NSW Department of Planning & Environment
Major Projects Assessments
Planning Service
GPO Box 39
SYDNEY NSW 2001
email to: [email protected]
RE: SSD 6339 St Catherine's School Campus Master Plan and Stage 1 development

INTRODUCTION:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Campus Masterplan and Stage 1 DA submitted by St Catherine's School, 26 Albion Street, Waverley, to the NSW Department of Planning for determination, and on exhibition from 2nd October to 5th December 2014. The $63 million budget for this Master Plan gives it status as a State Significant Development (SSD) thereby by-passing Waverley Council as the consent authority.
St Catherine's School for girls is the oldest Independent Anglican Girls School in Australia, operating in its present site since 1858. Equality of educational oppotunities for girls was a founding objective of Mrs Jane Barker, wife of the second Archbishop of Sydney, and her inspired foresight in establishing a school for the daughters of poorer clergy meant that these girls, and later, girls from a wider demographic, could rightly benefit from a fine education. The school remained quite small with about 200 students until the 1950s when it commenced a period of steady expansion, growing to over 900 by 1987, including a kindergarten, junior school and senior high school.

The school's growth in student numbers has been accompanied by
- a growth in the size and number of buildings on its campus, and
- a growth in private, individual car based journeys for approximately 600 of the 960 girls travelling to attend the school daily
- a growth in the number of teachers at the school to over 200, 70% of whom drive to school and have to park in nearby streets and
- a growth in the number of parents attending functions and parking in local streets
Significant impacts from this sustained growth are already experienced beyond the school campus boundaries, and are set to be compounded should the Master Plan and Stage 1 developments be approved in their present form, as these impacts are neither truly acknowledged nor are they addressed.

The Master Plan and Stage 1 development propose further growth in student numbers on the site, as well as more buildings. Stage 1 buildings are large and have the potential to amplify the school's impacts on neighbours. An indoor, heated swimming pool complex for year round use replaces the existing, rudimentary outdoor pool used only in the warmer months. A new 500 seat theatre will complement the existing Dame Joan Sutherland 250 seat theatre. Both these facilities will intensify on-campus activity levels, both from the school's own population and from additional users when these facilities are leased to outside groups. Thus the school's operational activities cannot be contained on its own campus and its transport needs, parking needs and wider environmental needs are externalised into the surrounding neighbourhood.

IMPACTS:
a) Traffic congestion: continued twice daily congestion can be expected at all intersections and roundabouts around the school site. This includes the busy Albion Street/Macpherson Street roundabout with its busy bus routes. Kerbside drop offs and pick ups are set to be expanded, soaking up potential parking for residents and compounding the queuing congestion during term time and leading to "illegal" random double parking, stopping on residents' driveways, illegal U-turns and other dangerous manoeuvres. The construction period, particularly for Stage 1 on the Macpherson Street frontage, will further impede traffic flows as heavy trucks and machinery will have to access the site
b) Parking: with a total of just 56 on-campus car spaces proposed, increased levels of on street parking can be expected. Teachers who drive, students with driving licences, volunteers working in the tuck or uniform shops, and parents at theatre functions or swimming carnivals will all have to find parking on neighbouring streets, most of which are already saturated.
daytime - residents and shoppers visiting Charing Cross have to search far and wide to park during term time;
weekend & evening functions - the school relies on on-street kerbside parking. This already causes problems and is set to get a lot worse with construction of a new 500 seat theatre (in addition tot he existing Dame Joan Sutherland Centre's 250 seats) and a swimming pool complex accommodating 250 spectators;
c) construction: experience with St Catherine's building construction activities over the past 20 years demonstrates to residents that the lack of on-site parking leads to construction vehicle and tradie parking in surrounding streets, across footpaths, driveways and nature strips. Up to 75 construction vehicles per day are anticipated in St Catherine's Stage 1 Construction Management Plan yet there are no arrangements for them to park. Residents request a plan of how the School intends to manage construction workers vehicles, such as use of public transport and bussing in from a parking station e.g. from Bondi Junction or Moriah College., or construction of an on-site parking station as the first development action.
d) Environmental: site coverage by buildings leaves little natural ground to absorb stormwater, to design a beautiful central courtyard with trees, and/or for canopy trees to assist in ameliorating summer heat. Evidence of sustainable building technologies and a progressive transport approach are completely missing. Even worse, the new main entry from Macpherson Street draws the school's focus away from its historic front address and the bus hub on Albion Street, to the car based drop off and pick up system.

TRANSPORT:
A complete shift in transport thinking by the school to prioritise public transport and walking would go a long way towards reducing current levels of congestion on local streets, and with it, greenhouse gas emissions. It is interesting that the school promotes public transport on its website, but does not integrate this thinking within its Master Plan objectives, where the Albion Street bus hub is ignored and the proud Albion Street entry re-cast as a Service area. Following is from the school's website:
Getting to St Catherine's :
"St Catherine's is in Waverley, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. The school is only 20 minutes from Sydney Airport and from Central Railway Station.
If you are planning to travel by public transport you may find the Transport NSW site helpful. It offers information in a number of languages.
A particularly useful tool is the Transport NSW Journey Planner. Enter your departure point and arrival address and it will give you a number of transport options. Your arrival address is 26 Albion Street, Waverley.
Bondi Junction is the nearest retail and commercial centre to St Catherine's. It is connected to Central Station in the City by rail and from there the School is a short bus ride or a 22 minute walk.
From Bondi Junction Interchange buses 314, 378 and 400 all stop close to the School".

Walking: over 50% of students live within 1.5 kilometres of the school and could easily walk. The school could pioneer a walk to school programme for its students, improving their health, reducing transport related emissions and traffic congestion. Heavy books could be left in lockers at the school. Contemporary computers, tablets and iphones used by most students are highly portable.
Cycling: the school could also encourage parents to cycle with smaller children, and older students living close to cycle. An expanding network of cycle routes will be further developed over the 15 year construction period of the Master Plan and over the long term future of the school. This shift towards active transport should be anticipated now.

SCALE OF DEVELOPMENT
The site is set to be over built, recognised by the excessive height, FSR and site coverage. The proposed buildings would sit more comfortably in a CBD location than in suburban Waverley. Very little natural ground remains on the campus, reducing the opportunity to plant shady trees thus reducing opportunities for students to relax or hold discussions out of doors, in the shade of tree canopies which can help to reduce air temperatures by up to 6 degrees C.
The impacts of this over development will also be seen in intensification of use during the day and in the evenings, with its proposal for more events over a longer day, higher student numbers, more teachers, parents, cleaners, volunteer staff, and office staff all working on site, more parking in local streets, larger and busier drop off and pick up zones and increased traffic problems in an already congested area.

CONSULTATION:
Any approval for the Master Plan and Stage 1 development should include a condition of consent requiring regular 6-monthly meetings between a Senior Council Officer, Ward Councillors, representatives of the school or its Board, and representatives of Bronte Beach and Charing Cross Precincts. Responsibility for organising the meetings should be allocated either to Waverley Council or to the School. This system has operated for many years for other private schools in Waverley Local Government Area and has achieved a much better mutual understanding of issues and pressures. Sensible negotiation, with genuine goodwill, could go a long way towards satisfying the objectives of all sides.
AMENDMENTS:
the following amendments to the Master Plan could benefit the school itself, and surrounding residents:
* Re-orient entrance ways and plan the site to give clear logic to using the main Albion Street entry to give direct access to the bus shelters on the busy transport route servicing Bondi Junction, Randwick, Sydney Airport and popular beach suburbs, and signalled pedestrian crossing, all provided by public authorities
* Explore use of school special buses to take students to Bondi Junction and Randwick Junction
* Encourage walking to school,; make sure lockers are provided for heavy student bags;
* Design drop off and pick up zones within the school boundaries, not in local streets
* provide an on-site carpark with a reasonable number of spaces to address the acknowledged operational needs of the school, including parking for full and part time staff, theatre audiences, parents attending functions, swimmers or water polo players and spectators, volunteer tuck shop and uniform shop operators, cleaners and other service personnel;
SUSTAINABILITY:
St Catherine's values its educational leadership role, as endorsed by the following quote from its website:
"St Catherine's has a long and rich history, but is a modern and innovative school that uses the latest technology to support learning across a broad curriculum".
The proposed Master Plan and Stage One buildings reflect very little contemporary thinking about sustainability, or the potential for green design to be integrated into educating their girls, perhaps the most important imperative for the next 50-100 years. It would be encouraging to see the school integrating its avowed leadership role into all its future buildings and operation. Whilst there may be difficulties achieving natural ventilation of a pool complex and a large theatre space, the school could generate solar energy on site to offset its energy demands. Fully accredited 6 Green Star (or more) rating should be the goal for any new buildings, or building complex, both to reduce greenhouse emissions and in the long term to reduce the school's running costs. Solar panels, green roofs, shading of walls and windows, inbuilt thermal efficiencies and insulation, stack effect ventilation, on site waste recycling, water capture and recycling, low emissions materials and recycling of existing buildings are all technically feasible and should now be normal practice. Site sustainability should go along with a progressive approach to active transport.
Sustainability for neighbours is critical too. The design could be modified to reduce the overbearing interface of institutional buildings on neighbours. The planning controls are being well and truly breached, which means that compatibility between the school and residents is diminished. Residents' outlooks and sky may be blocked and enjoyment of their homes compromised, particularly if noisy comings and goings on the street are allowed early in the morning (for swimming training) or late into the evenings (swimming and theatre operations). Light spill into neighbours homes is a particular irritant which should be designed out.
Sharing: the concept of sharing facilities is also a more sustainable approach. The school has an existing performance facility at the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre, suitable for smaller productions and training or rehearsal purposes. Use of a 500 seat theatre is likely to be infrequent, and mainly for major end of term or end of year productions. These could be staged at NIDA, just a few kilometres away at the University of New South Wales, which hires out its space to external groups.
CONCLUSION:
The Master Plan and Stage 1 development proposals are not satisfactory in their current form for many reasons, and particularly as there is no serious attempt to plan for sustainability. However, there are opportunities at this stage of its campus planning for St Catherine's to look towards its next 150 years by adopting sustainable goals which will help to reduce its environmental footprint, its own running costs, and reduce its conflicts with neighbours. This opportunity should not be allowed to slip by.

Bronte Beach Precinct

New South Wales Planning Dept.
December 9th 2014.

Re: SSD6339 -- St. Catherine's School Master Plan
Dear Sir/Madam:

On behalf of the Bronte Beach Precinct we should like to express our concerns over the latest proposed expansion of the St. Catherine's School facilities. While it is crucial that we provide our young people with a stimulating, interesting and excellent school environment in which to learn, there is still an obligation on schools to consider the impact on surrounding residents. These plans will considerably affect the amenity and quality of life of those living nearby. Even the Acoustic Consultants, Wilkinson Murray, concede that construction activities will exceed established construction noise-management levels; there is no certainty that their recommended noise-mitigating and vibration-mitigating measures will be followed. And quaintly, there appears to be no consideration of how such noise might affect classrooms and teaching.

Traffic - With an additional 230 students planned and 200 staff there will be a sizeable increase in the number of private vehicles arriving and leaving the school. This is in light of over 70% of staff and 60% of students who use the car to get to school. Traffic is already at a standstill in both the mornings and afternoon. Further traffic movements will lead to traffic gridlock. And this site is also on bus routes 378 and 360; clearly both these will be negatively affected.

Parking - Additional teachers and students plus additional activity at both the Theatre and swimming pools will inevitably lead to additional pressure on parking. A planned allocation of 19 extra car-parking spaces is woefully inadequate for a proposed development of this size. MacPherson St. and other nearby streets, especially Leichhardt Street, will have to bear the parking pressure where already parking is at a premium -- clearly this will result in many nearby streets (even driveways) being occupied by school patrons.

The Theatre - We understand that it is planned to use the proposed theatre during the weekend in addition to weekdays. This will create more parking pressure, traffic movements, noise, and general disruption to the surrounding neighbourhood at a time when residents appreciate a break from their working lives.

Loss of Green Space - The extension of the Joan Sutherland Theatre and the addition of extra swimming pools will result in a loss of trees and vegetation along MacPherson St. This will detract from the streetscape, the ambience of MacPherson St., and the general appeal of this part of the street.

In conclusion, whereas this matter is listed as a State Significant Development, Bronte Beach Precinct requests that the NSW Planners rejects this development until the local traffic and parking problems are solved and until there are far fewer negative impacts on the surrounding residents and the streetscape of MacPherson Street.

Yours sincerely,
Virginia Milson & John S. Batts,
Co-convenors, Bronte Beach Precinct.

See attached.

Please find attached my submission

See attached.

See attached.

I have written detailed comments in file attachment 1

Dear Sirs,

RE: SSD 6339 St Catherine's School Campus Master Plan

I write to you in support of the abovementioned application by St Catherine's School. I am a parent of two students currently attending St Catherine's.

The School's aim is to build an integrated complex comprising aquatics, performing arts and research centres as well as space for other multi-purpose functions. Opportunities for our girls and the wider community will be transformed on completion of this project, leaving a legacy of outstanding school facilities at St Catherine's.

The proposed facilities will be seamlessly integrated with existing adjacent buildings. The style of the new works will tie together the new and old styles of architecture.

The proposed works, as highlighted in the photo attached, will be entirely within the existing envelope of the school grounds. All planning considerations in relation to height, set-back, building mass, floor-space ratio, overshadowing and aesthetics have been complied with in respect of the local community. The building works will improve the facilities of the school and in provide great amenities to be utilised by both students and the greater community.

The aquatic centre and the performing arts complex are utilised by the greater community, outside of St Catherine's. The improvement to these facilities will benefit and be enjoyed by many.

The Community desperately needs an aquatic centre, due to the loss of several in the area in the past 5 years.

St Catherine's is the oldest independent girls' school in Australia. It was founded in 1856 by Jane barker, wife of Bishop Barker to "provide an education or the daughters of the clergy equal to that given to boys". Over the past 158 years, the school has been transformed with each generation improving the facilities and opportunities for our children. This building proposal continues in that tradition and is sympathetic to the architectural style of the school, the suburb and community of Bronte and the greater community.

I urge the Department of Planning and Environment to approve the building proposal.


Yours faithfully,

Please see attached document

Please see attached document

The submission is provided as an uploaded pdf document.

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