St Ignatius College Riverview Redevelopment - Concept Proposal and Stage 1

As a local resident living in close proximity to the college, I am most concerned that the information provided by the college regarding the traffic flow around the Riverview Street and Tambourine Bay Road intersection is quite misleading and does not give an accurate representation of the facts. On studying the submission, they chose Saturday the 5th September as the day to conduct the weekend traffic flow survey around the school. That particular Saturday was one where several Riverview teams had 'bye' games and the majority of other Riverview teams had 'away' games, so were not playing at the school that day. Had they chosen the 22nd August, 2015 as the day to conduct the weekend survey, the results would have been very different. On that day, most Riverview teams had 'home' games, with the resulting influx of players and parents from opposing teams increasing the traffic in the area. Saturday sport brings a large number of buses, cars and people to the area, and results in crowded roads and street parking. Buses from visiting schools park in Tambourine Bay Road, while waiting for sporting games to finish, and create a safety issue for residents attempting to enter or exit their own driveway due to restricted vision and the sheer number of cars travelling to the college. Residents cannot have events at home during the day on such occasions, as our guests cannot find parking. The area near the local shops, York's Corner, becomes so congested that you have difficulty driving through that section of Tambourine Bay Road. The queues along Tambourine Bay Road to exit at River Road are very long. This is despite an alternative access to River Road available via Pengilly Road and Fox Street.
The College states that they open fields for parking for big events, however if it has been raining in the days prior to the event, they do not allow cars to park on the grass, the gates are closed and the cars therefore park in the surrounding streets. Events such as the Riverview Gold Cup bring even more cars and people to the area, resulting in cars parking across driveways, up on the footpath, etc. It is chaotic.
By changing the length of the road within the college, and making it a shorter journey, it will compress the time required for cars and buses to enter, drop off and exit, thereby compressing the traffic flow and increasing frequency of cars on local streets.
By building a new boarding facility on a currently grassed area, the area available for grass parking will be reduced, again increasing the number of cars parking on surrounding streets. As they clearly and repeatedly state they have no intention of increasing the number of students, the existing boarding house should be demolished to replace the space lost for car parking on the grass.
The college is also used for other events, not mentioned in the application, and that are in no way relate to the function of the school. By improving hall and catering facilities, the College will be able to increase the number of events held outside normal school operating times, thereby also affecting local traffic flow over a longer period of time in the day/evening.
The application by the College quotes Lane Cove council parking requirements for schools. They are only considering requirements for staff parking, they are not considering the other events which bring additional cars and buses to the school on a very regular basis after school and on the weekend. St Ignatius Riverview is not like any other school within the Lane Cove Council area - it has Saturday sport during Term time (bringing large numbers of vehicles and people to the college throughout the day), is used at night, during holidays and on weekends for other events, not related to the function of the school, and is generally operating as a business. Brewer Swimming operates at the College and conducts swimming classes at the College 3 mornings and afternoons per week and during school holidays. This also increases traffic to the College, not related to the function of the school.
As a condition of approval of the application, the College should be required to provide adequate additional dedicated parking on site for cars and have dedicated bus parking for sporting events. The amenity of the local area must be ensured and the local residents not impacted by the influx of people, cars and buses to the area. This has only increased over time, and will continue to do so as more events are held at the school.
If the College purports to be a school, it should have some restrictions as to the number/type of events that can be held there.
I am not against the building improvement program, but am most definitely concerned re the College's lack of appreciation and recognition for need for additional dedicated parking in their plans to address existing traffic and parking problems.

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