Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to formally object to the proposed development of the Eileen O’Connor Catholic School in its current form, particularly in relation to the planned access from Keefers Glen, as well as the broader impacts outlined in the Environmental Impact Statement and technical appendices.

My family moved into the neighbourhood in late 2023 and were not part of the initial consultation process. Since living here, we have already observed significant school-related impacts and are concerned that the proposed development will increase these negative effects.

1. Traffic and Road Safety
Currently, high school students frequently park along our street during school hours, and parents are already using Keefers Glen to drop off students. We have been advised by neighbours that this entrance was originally intended as a service access point, not a main school entrance, and its current use is unauthorised.

Keefers Glen is a narrow residential cul-de-sac, not designed for high volumes of traffic. The proposal to formalise it as a dedicated school entrance poses serious risks for children and pedestrians. Our own children attend Tuggerah Public School and use the bus, which requires them to cross Wagners Place at Deloraine Glen — an already unsafe crossing with no zebra markings. Additional traffic associated with the proposed school will heighten these dangers and create an unacceptable safety risk.

2. Noise and Amenity
Our home runs parallel to Keefers Glen, and even with windows closed we already experience noise impacts from the nearby school, including the PA system during the day. While some school-related noise is to be expected, the scale and proximity of the proposed development will significantly increase these disturbances, diminishing the quiet residential amenity of the neighbourhood.

3. Alternative Access
From reviewing the plans, it appears that access via Gavenlock Road — already zoned and established for school use — would provide a safer and more practical solution for students, staff, parents, and local residents alike. This entrance offers more space for queuing, parking, and managing traffic flows within school property, rather than funnelling vehicles through local neighbourhood streets.

If the school is designed to support up to 200 students, even with half travelling by public transport, the neighbourhood cannot safely accommodate the resulting traffic of more than 130 vehicles twice daily. A narrow residential street such as Keefers Glen is simply not appropriate for this scale of activity.

4. Support for a Special Needs School
I want to be clear that I am supportive of a new special needs school in our local area, and even on these particular school grounds. I recognise the importance of providing purpose-built facilities for children with disabilities and believe the community would benefit from such a development. However, more careful planning is required to ensure the impacts on surrounding residents are properly addressed and mitigated.

Conclusion
In its current form, this proposal represents an unsafe and unsuitable development for our neighbourhood. The use of Keefers Glen as a main school access point will significantly worsen traffic congestion, pedestrian safety, noise, and local amenity, contrary to planning objectives and community expectations.

I respectfully request that Council and the Department refuse the Development Application in its current form. At minimum, school access should be restricted to Gavenlock Road, ensuring traffic and parking are managed within school grounds rather than spilling into residential streets.

Attached, one of our neighbours have helpfully provided documented objections in relation to NSW Planning Guidelines. I would like to submit their evidence with my own objection for consideration, as we support their stance and objection points.

Thank you for considering my submission.

I object to the above proposed development of the Eileen O’Conner due to the entrance and exit of the school being at Keefers Glen, a small little residential back street in Mardi.
That street and the streets surrounding it are not large enough to support something of that scale.
It also poses safety risks not only to the students of the school but the children and family’s already living around the area.
The infrastructure is not built for that scale of activity, there are barely and side walks in the area and with flooding the amount of children that walk on the road to get to the bus stops on Woodbury park drive is unsafe as it is, with the increase of school buses, speciality taxis and parent drop offs, not to mention construction trucks that will be traveling in the area it will increase those safety issues tenfold.

Council has already refused this proposal on the basis that that small back street and this area is not built for the increased traffic flow this will bring to the area.

The main entry and exit points should be on Gavenlock road where St Peter’s already is, that road is 100x more suited to increased traffic than Keefers Glen is.

There is also not enough car parking onsite in the proposed development for the full time teachers, multiple support staff that would be needed for disabled children and visitors so does this mean Keefers Glen (which already has little to no off street parking) and the surrounding small streets will bear the brunt of the parking issues.

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Monty Muhl and I live in Cobbs Village, Mardi. I’m writing to object to the proposed special education school at Keefers Glen (St Peter’s site, 84 Gavenlock Road).

The main issue is traffic. Our streets are already narrow and difficult to get through, with cars often parked partly on the footpath just so people can pass. We’ve already had incidents in the village with pedestrians being hit and injured because of poor visibility. Adding heavy construction trucks, service vehicles, staff cars, and daily school drop-offs will make it dangerous and unworkable.

Other concerns are the noise and dust from construction, the height of the buildings affecting privacy, and the likely hit on property values for residents here.

There are much better options than using Keefers Glen for access. Gavenlock Road is built for heavier traffic and would make far more sense. Extending the existing St Peter’s driveway from Gavenlock Road through to the new site would also solve most of the issues. If that’s not possible, then at the very least there should be restrictions such as:

Making Keefers Glen one-way,

A no-drop-off zone, or

No school traffic entering via Keefers Glen at all.

Any of those options would help keep our community safe while still allowing the project to go ahead. Right now it feels like residents haven’t been properly consulted, and I think that needs to change before this moves forward.

Regards,
Monty Muhl

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Elaine Purches and I live in Cobbs Village, Mardi (1/22 Keefers Glen, Mardi). I wish to formally object to the proposed Eileen O’Connor School at Keefers Glen, 84 Gavenlock Road.

The road network in and around Cobs Village is already unsuitable for the level of traffic we currently have. Streets are narrow, cars have to be parked halfway across the footpath just to let others through, and this has already led to safety issues and accidents involving pedestrians. Adding construction trucks, trades, and later the daily movement of staff, students, and service vehicles will put even more pressure on roads that simply cannot cope.

Beyond traffic, the project also raises other concerns for local residents. These include construction noise and dust, the impact of taller buildings on privacy, and the likelihood of a negative effect on property values.

At this stage, there has been little opportunity for genuine consultation with residents. Given the scale of the impact, the community should have a much stronger voice before any approval is granted.

Yours faithfully,
Elaine Purches

To whom it may concern,

We are an owner/occupier In Mardi, residents recently received a letter from the NSW planning and development regarding the proposed development of the new Eillen O'Connor school on the grounds of St peters.

The proposed three storey school is to be built in the back corner overlooking Keefers glen with the entry and exit to be in Keefers Glen and not through the already existing school grounds entry on Gavenlock Rd.

The school is a K-12 and will cater for 200 hundred students and over 70 school andauxiliary staff. Parking for the proposed site is inadequate as the allocated spots only come to 61. Being a special needs school, all students will need assistance either by private car or buses. The proposed site also includes a Multi-purpose centre to be used after hours and weekends.

Central coast council has already opposed the entry and exit on Keefers Glen. They have said the entry and exit needs to be off Gavenlock road due to many reasons but the main one being the street and surrounding streets will not cope with the increase of traffic that this will bring and buses being unable to navigate the roads safely.

The schools governing body(CSBB)recently undertook a safety audit of the gate that leads from the school into Keefers Glen and as of Term 3 the gate has been locked as they deemed it unsafe for students to use for pick up and drop off.

The community has been submitting their objects to the proposed entry and exit to the NSW planning and Development in hopes that this will be rectified.

Being a strata community is there any laws or by laws that could help in this situation? And if so, could we please have access to this to be able to submit.

And for your consideration does any potential lose in property values effect strata costs and fees ? A local resident has gone through the whole proposal and has found a number of legal flaws. They have posted on the community Facebook page which we can send if you would like to read. Also, please find attached Council document.

We are not against a school Being built but a three-storey building overlooking backyards on Brickendon and overlooking Keefers people lose all privacy, we are against the entry and exit on Keefers glen and it should be constructed from the Gavenlock entrance. We understand that community's go through change, but this is on a very large scale and impacts all residents.
The development fails to consider any impact on the small local community that we are.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

My name is Peter McKenna, I own and reside at a strata managed property located in Cobbs Village Mardi and I'm currently a committee member of the strata management team.

I have reached out to you before in regards to the continue flooding of my business premises located in Ace Crescent Tuggerah, your advise and suggested contact person at the council at that time was a great help to the commencement of solving our problem.

FYI, I have also reached out to David Harris MP in regards to these matters and awaiting a reply.

You may be aware of the proposed new development for a 200 student special educational school at Keefers Glen Mardi.
My reason for contacting you at this time is in an effort to promptly encourage consultation between the NSW Department of Planning and Environment and the property owners of Cobbs Village and the greater Mardi suburb.

Currently we are one and a half weeks into a four week period offered to the Cobs Village property owners by the Department of Planning and Environment to lodge any objections to the proposed development, a process that many property owners are now undertaking.

N.B: In the recent pass there has been incidences in Cobs Village involving motor vehicles and pedestrians, including children, resulting in the latter's hospitalization recovery. The majority of these incidences were caused by the narrowness of the streets and resident's cars that have to straddle the footpath and street when parked so as to keep a thoroughfare, all of which reduces everyone's visibility.

FYI, to date the main concerns that the property owners have are in regards to our village sized streets leading into the heart of Cobs Village, in that of Keefers Glen, that are going to be subjected to firstly all of the construction vehicles ranging from semi and ridged trucks, cement mixers and pumpers and all associated trade vehicles during the construction period and secondly once the project is completed all of the students, teaching staff, school management, school maintenance, service, trades people and suppliers vehicles adding addition movements throughout each day.

These village streets are accessed from the main Woodbury Park Drive Mardi, as you would know, a winding up elevated before down again road that has had to have numerous speed humps installed in an effort to reduce the local traffic's speed, that would be subjected to all of the above noted additional types of vehicle's daily movements.

The development proposal is addressed as '84 Gavenlock Road Mardi' being St Peters College, from overhead viewing on Google Maps, it is obvious to us that there are more simple and suitable entry routes that could be taken from the main industrial grade designed Gavenlock Road to the proposed development site rather than subjecting all of Mardi let alone the unsuitably sized Cobs Village roads and Keefers Glen to these additional daily vehicle movements.

The other property owner concern's that have been raised relate to such as the additional noise and dust generated during the construction period, the height of the above single story buildings of the development reducing the level of privacy to their properties, the suitable types of screening and/or vegetation that would be used in an effort to possibly overcome these privacy issues and the local real estate industry advised of potential devaluation of their properties.

Alternatively, if the proposed building site was situated further east on the cleared land towards Gavenlock Road, starting at say in line with the end of Brickendon Avenue and vehicle access via the above noted more suitable Gavenlock Road, all of our concerns

would be greatly alleviated allowing Cobs Village, the Greater Mardi suburb and St Peter's College to continue to operate safely and harmoniously together. Under the current NSW Department of Planning and Environment arrangement there is no opportunity for the property owner's of Mardi to consultation with the department.

I object to SSD-67173718 - New Eileen O'Connor School. I object to this DA and the proposal of sub-dividing the land and building the new Eileen O’Connor School and having the entrance on to Keefers Glen, Mardi. The proposal says it is for 84 Gavenlock Road, Mardi, which I feel is wrong, as when you go to the Planning Portal the front of the new school, as well as the entrance and exit are on to Keefers Glen, Mardi. Keefers Glen is really just a tiny little laneway (which is confirmed by Central Coast Council in my attachment to this submission).

I specifically draw your attention to Central Coast Council's pre DA Advice of 20/9/2023, part of which I have attached to my submission. I can supply more of this. I 100% agree entirely with this report. The Council stated that they will not support this proposal and list the very many reasons on it.

The proposed new special needs Eileen O'Connor school will generate extremely higher traffic nd Keefers Glen and surrounding roads are unsuitable for the huge amount of traffic that a special needs school of this size will create, particularly as the majority of students are coming from out of area and arriving in community buses. This does not even include the large quantity of trucks and workers needed for to construct a project of this size (suggesting figures of 100 workers on site at one time).

Keefers Glen, Deloraine Glen, Wagners Place and Brickendon Avenue were only designed for a small amount of traffic. They are small, tight streets and cannot handle the amount of traffic. In Keefers Glen itself, two cars cannot pass each other in parts of it, Central Coast Council call it a laneway. Why would anyone plan to have this amount of traffic in a street like this! There is no parking available at all on the street or surrounding streets, parking already is a huge trouble. The new school proposal is only providing 61 car spaces, yet will have 71 teachers plus extra auxilliary staff. Where are they going to park?

There are sections of Keefers Glen, including the doglegs at the top, which cannot cope now with two passing cars at a time. The proposal does not include upgrades to Keefers Glen except for an extra bitumen section in front of the school and a short footpath from the school entrance to Brickendon Ave.

Objection due to Environmental Concern:

There is a natural dam on site and I am very concerned about this, as the proposal just says the builders are just going to fill it in. What will happen with the waterflow and underground water table. This could be a major environmental mistake, as a lot of the year it is so very wet on that block of land and Keefers and Brickendon . There is already run off from this dam into Keefers Glen and Brickendon Ave. The dam doesn't look much to the eye, as it is surrounded by trees and shrubs, but it is a big dam which can be clearly seen on Google maps. What a big environmental concern this is.

The Significant Impact on Local Residents:

The burden and disruption on a daily basis of the traffic to and from this proposed new school will be horrendous to the residents of these small, tight streets in Mardi. The traffic going up and down from the school will all finally bank back on to Woodbury Park Drive and this will be chaotic especially on the steep hill of Wagners Place and the corner of Deloraine Glen. Then when the traffic reaches the roundabout at the end of Woodbury Park Drive and Wyong Road, it will be a nightmare, as it is usually very hard to get out of this roundabout now! This new noise from this school will be bad. I know there is another school there now but none of it is facing our streets and also there is to be a community hall. which will also have things after hours and on weekends. The huge increase in traffic past our houses will severely affect our quality of lives, be a danger pulling in and out of our driveways and significantly decrease our property values.

Important Safety Concerns:

Pedestrians: It will be extremely dangerous for local pedestrians, school children and people walking their dogs. As there are no footpaths and as the streets mentioned above are so little, cars are already mostly parked on the nature strips, otherwise traffic cannot get by. It is already a big danger for children walking to school or people walking to the bus stops on Woodbury Park Drive - what will it be like with hundreds and hundreds of extra vehicles a day and at the same time as the local children are walking to the bus stop to go to the local primary and high schools. This cannot happen !! Also when people and children walk up to Woodbury Park Drive there are no footpaths there and it is dangerous walking or jogging on the nature strips and currently most people walk on the road itself. All of the above is a terrible accident waiting to happen ! This is a huge concern.

Traffic Queing and Delays and Traffic bank up:

The proposal has not taken into account that there will also be queuing of cars and special needs buses to get in and out of the school. These are not children who can get in and out of vehicles quickly, they will need a lot of help, quite a few will be in wheelchairs etc. They will take quite a long time to load and unload and the traffic will queue into and out of Keefers Glen, banking back into Deloraine Glen or Brickendon Avenue and then onto the main through road Woodbury Park Drive.

Objection:

I totally object to this development application by Catholic Schools Broken Bay as it currently stands. However, if the proposed new special needs Eileen O'Connor School has to be built on this subdivided site, which I definitely object to in its current form, then all traffic to it MUST enter through the purpose built entrance at 84 Gavenlock Rd, Mardi - which is the address given for this application. There is ample room for the existing internal road of St Peters Catholic College to continue on to this new school and have the new school back on to Keefers Glen, Mardi without any entry and exit through Keefers Glen.

It is not going to be feasible for the current proposal of this school tpo be built with inadequate parking for the staff that will be required here, let alone the private vehicles and buses that will be coming in and out of the street transporting students. This needs to be revisited to have space expanded to allow for staff as well as students.