Tweed Valley Hospital Stage 2

EPA comments on request for new advice

See attached

Hi

Is it too late to go on the advising panel. I was offered but said no because I was still in Sydney, I have been here since Oct2018
I was looking at the materials that has been looked at, the aggregated concrete is a crazy option for people that have problems their feet because they already feel like they are walking on stone to add this to it will hurt more, it is not suitable. You are better to go with a concrete that has colour added into the concrete, no maintenance.
Your colour scheme is boring and very old fashion, people are sick you need bright clean colour, yes I do believe colour for different area, like calming colour for the cancer ward, light grey, light green, light pinks. Different colours for different building

Thank you for your referral dated 4 October 2019 inviting EIA comments from the Heritage
Council of NSW for the above proposal.

The subject site is not listed on the State Heritage Register (SHR), nor is it in the vicinity of any
SHR items. The site also does not contain any known historical archaeological sites. Therefore,
no further heritage comments are required. The Department does not need to refer subsequent
stages of this proposal to the Heritage Council of NSW.

Please note that the Greater Sydney Planning Team within the Climate Change &
Sustainability Division may provide separate comment in relation to Aboriginal cultural
heritage.

If you have any questions regarding the above advice please contact me using the details below.

Regards,

Katrina Stankowski


Katrina Stankowski | Senior Team Leader, Regional Heritage Assessments North
Heritage NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet
Level 6, 10 Valentine Avenue, Parramatta, 2150 | Locked Bag 5020, Parramatta, 2124
T: 9873 8569 | [email protected]

The Government has chosen to select a site remote from the vast majority of the population of the Tweed. Except for perhaps a few hundred or so people the sick and their family and friends will be forced to attend the site by some form of transport. Given the lack of public transport that will obvious mostly occur by private vehicle. Apart from those who work at the location no one WANTS to go there. At the very least parking should be free, unconditionally. The Government in seeking support for the site and seeking re-election for the local member assured all parking would be free. Whether by design or omission of other knowledge by the Government, the Government deliberately led the people to understand there would be unconditional free parking at the site and the Government should honour that.

Tweed Valley Hospital

Gross overdevelopment of a semi-rural area with dramatic negative impacts on a small coastal town that will change it forever.

Carried out in a series of deceptions including manipulation and addition of selection criteria to achieve an outcome.

Deception continues with visual impact assessments making use of very wide-angle lens to distort and to minimise visual effects. Shots of the proposed hospital from the top of McPhail Avenue and from Oceanview Drive, 400 metres away, are in no way representative of the impact to the human eye of a 9 storey hospital on the scenic plateau. Likewise, the artistic concept illustrations used, particularly of the front of the hospital would allow people to run through fields of flowers before reaching the hospital environs - which are actually not set far back from the main Cudgen Road and which have been moved closer in the revised planning.

Deception from start to finish. The local member assuring people that the design would be incorporated into the slope - couldn’t be further from the truth. The local member assuring people that parking would be free and that it would not impinge on local roads - now a 10 storey parking lot is proposed and who is to pay for this - along with precedent in other NSW hospitals it will be paid parking. As with elsewhere, this will see people parking in neighbourhood streets.

Road modifications are beyond ridiculous. The small roundabout at Turnock Street/Cudgen Road can’t handle two cars negotiating the turn in different lanes without one car inevitably crossing into the other land, and you propose an access road from the hospital on what is a blind corner to make matters worse. Increased traffic on Tweed Coast Road and Cudgen Road will be too much for the intersection at the lights to handle. At peak times and during holidays it already comes to a standstill and your own study states that this intersection already is grossly inefficient.

Deception and weasel words again suggesting that the ground level doesn’t constitute a ‘storey’ and is therefore not included/ignored in the total height in storeys of the development. There is no way the development is ‘visually compatible with existing visual contexts’ and planning approvals have been taken out of the hands of Tweed Shire Council that has consistently opposed the location of this hospital on SS Farmland and because of the impacts it will have on Kingscliff/Cudgen and on the Tweed Heads central business district.

The amended bed numbers (545) will take immediate effect and yet maximum traffic estimates are based on a 391 bed hospital as at 2023 and 499 bed hospital in 2033. Traffic surveys already suggest that the lighted intersection of the Tweed Coast Road and Cudgen Road is not adequate for existing traffic and the study also says that no major upgrade is proposed because of the potential to upgrade the Tweed Coast Road to 4 lanes some time in the future. You would know that this is dependent on Kings Forrest approvals and works beginning there and would be funded by the proponents of Kings Forrest. Also you would know that Kings Forrest was an alternative location for a purpose built hospital with designed infrastructure to cater to the traffic flows and without the disruptions and upheavals that long term residents will be forced to endure now and into the future.

No recognition or compensation is given to the ‘SHED’, a small local business that has existed opposite the site for as long as I have lived here - 20 + years. Disruption to business when passing traffic chooses to take alternative routes to avoid delays and congestion and when lights are installed making it impossible for traffic heading towards Kingscliff to turn into the sheds parking area. The owners had to pay several thousand or more dollars to have a no parking lane added on the hospital side of Cudgen Road but no mention of compensation here. On a smaller scale it is akin to the lack of consideration for businesses that has occurred elsewhere when the state government embarks on massive development that bulldozers the local character, local concerns and the viability and amenity of the locale.

In this case of abominable planning decisions without redress or appeal. I will watch this monstrosity rise from the red soil dust and forever destroy the rural outlook we used to enjoy and the quiet coastal village atmosphere we came here for, many years ago.

See attached

I support the project but concerned the traffic plans haven't learnt any lessons from the Bryon Hospital traffic issues. The Hospital will create significant more traffic along Cudgen Rd, this traffic will increase with local developments also. There is a significant pinch point just north of the Cudgen/Turnock St round about on Turnock St. This pinch point of 2 lanes merging into one on Turnock St is already an issue, with the increase traffic load this will be a disaster. The southern end of Turnock St needs to be widen to 2 lanes to allow smoother merging if not extending to the next roundabout.

There doesn't appear to be any real short term fix for the major traffic issues created around Byron Bay Hospital, the temporary fix is just a bandaide on a major traffic problem. Please don't let traffic issues ruin what I hope is a fantastic and much needed hospital project.

Hi Aditi
Thank you for inviting us to review the proposal. Please find attached our submission for consideration.
Kind regards,
Billy Yung

It has come to my attention, that the new Tweed Valley Hospital development has requested public input into the proposed new Hospital. I have only 9 years’ experience at a Large Hostel as a facility manager and 15 years as an automotive technician. Which gives me a different prospective into what I believe is an optimized building. I hope at least one of these ideas could help in the project in some way.

Do not just create a hospital, create a hospital village!

In the attached file, I have made numerous proposals, which when correctly implemented, could help save cost while providing a higher level of care.

Best Regards

Durante

RMS response attached.

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has reviewed this proposal. DPIs comments and advise are in the attached letter.

Hello Aditi,

Please find attached our advice on this matter as just discussed with you over the phone. If there are any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards,

Rachel Lonie
Senior Conservation Planning Officer

Biodiversity and Conservation | Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
T 02 6650 7130 | E [email protected]
Level 8, 24 Moonee Street, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450
Postal: Locked Bag 914, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450
www.dpie.nsw.gov.au

See separate attachment for submission details

A much higher priority should be given to car parking. My reading of the document is that only 1,201 car parks will be initially available in 2023 while the number of staff estimated on day shift is 1,120. Most staff will travel by car as the bus services are uncomfortable and very time consuming. This won't leave much parking for patients and visitors. Restricting staff parking will only exacerbate parking in surrounding streets, clogging up the limited road network in the Cudgen/Kingscliff area.
I note further that the document states that the 10 storey car park is subject to finance and demand which means no real commitment currently exists as to total car parking spaces to be provided. I find this completely unacceptable as the hospital is at a distance from the main population and future growth centres in the Tweed as a consequence most people and staff will have to use vehicle transport. Lastly the document does not indicate whether or not car parking is to be free as promised by the Deputy Premier, Health Minister and our local MP Geoff Provest. We don't want people profiting from car parking as goes on up at the Gold Coast University Hospital from people who are in crisis and suffering which is just outrageous. Paid car parking never goes down and can a quickly become a major expense, especially for friends and family and long term stays or frequent treatments patents (cancer patents) which is just . It now costs $35 a day at the Queensland Children's Hospital.
An unequivocal commitment must be given to build the 10 storey car park by 2023 to maximize total available car parking and it must be free or I object strongly to the project as the car parking (not properly allowed for and managed) will destroy the local Cudgen/Kingscliff community.

Please see attached Tweed Shire Council submission. Please call Denise Galle on (02) 6670 2459 if further information is required.

Please see attachment