Services Special Committee Agenda 18/09/17 SC1 North East Link Submission Abstract The North East Link Authority (NELA), the authority established to oversee the delivery of the North East Link (NEL) road project, released limited information about the four proposed road corridors on Monday 7 August 2017. NELA is now seeking feedback from the community about the four corridors and the consultation period closes on 18 September 2017. Despite numerous requests to NELA, the lack of available data and information has made a proper and fully informed assessment of the options very difficult for both Council officers and the community. Council officers have prepared a draft submission for endorsement. The submission notes the numerous and serious concerns held by the community about corridor option A and the likely impact on Boroondara. The concerns can be grouped in the following seven themes: 1. Potential impacts on parkland, reserves and green open space. 2. Potential impacts on recreational areas and community facilities. 3. Increased traffic volumes on the Eastern Freeway, arterial roads and the local road network. 4. Increased traffic noise on the Eastern Freeway, arterial roads and the local road network. 5. Parking and the potential for ‘Clearways’ to be installed. 6. Potential loss of school sporting facilities. 7. Compulsory acquisition of both private and public land. Council has conducted community engagement, culminating in a community forum hosted on Tuesday 12 September 2017 with over 400 people in attendance. Additionally, correspondence and feedback forms have been received from residents with comments about the NEL and corridor option A. When considering the available information, the wider road and freeway network and known issues in the current network, Option C is thought to be the more appropriate NEL corridor option. Option C provides a traditional orbital freeway standard section which connects the northern growth areas to the south-east of Melbourne via EastLink and Peninsula Link. It also provides good travel time savings for traffic between the M1 and M80 with traffic levels, including truck traffic on the Eastern Freeway, expected to decrease. The option also avoids the expensive and impactful Eastern Freeway widening works and the potential future upgrade of the EastLink tunnels associated with Option A. Officers' recommendation That the Services Special Committee resolve to endorse the City of Boroondara’s submission on the North East Link to the North East Link Authority as shown in Attachment 2. Document information City of Boroondara North East Link Page 1 of 49 Services Special Committee Agenda 18/09/17 Responsible director: Bruce Dobson Environment & Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Purpose To endorse a submission to the North East Link Authority (NELA) on the North East Link (NEL) project. 2. Policy implications and relevance to council plan The NEL is a Victorian Government project. It is a recommendation from Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year strategy. The NEL would impact on the following items as defined in the Council Plan 2017-21: Theme: ‘Enhanced amenity’. Strategic objective: ‘The character of our neighbourhoods is protected and improved’. Strategy 11: ‘Parking, traffic and transport - we will respond effectively and efficiently to community needs on parking, traffic and appropriate transport issues’. 3. Background NELA was established by the Victorian Government to oversee delivery of the NEL project. On Monday 7 August 2017, NELA released limited information about the four NEL corridor options under consideration. NELA is seeking feedback on the four corridor options from the community. On Monday 14 August 2017 Council considered a report about the NEL, where it resolved the following: 1. Note the information provided by NELA on corridor options for the NEL project. 2. Request NELA to schedule an additional community information session within the City of Boroondara at no cost to NELA to better allow Boroondara residents to participate in the NEL consultation process. 3. Request NELA to extend the consultation period to allow the community and Council sufficient time to consider and provide a submission on the corridor options. 4. Request NELA to provide additional information on all corridor options as a matter of urgency, in particular Corridor Option A, to enable Council to better understand the potential impacts of Corridor Option A on Boroondara, including but not limited to: Designs for the interchange at Bulleen Road with the Eastern Freeway and the upgrade of the Eastern Freeway. Impacts on Koonung Creek Reserve and other reserves/parks abutting the Eastern Freeway extending to Chandler Highway as a result of upgrades to the Eastern Freeway including possible additional lanes. City of Boroondara North East Link Page 2 of 49 Services Special Committee Agenda 18/09/17 Impacts to the Freeway Golf Course and Boroondara Tennis Centre. Impacts on traffic levels on the Eastern Freeway including truck traffic. Impacts on traffic levels on the arterial and local road network in Boroondara, including truck traffic and possible changes to these roads. Impacts on noise levels along the Eastern Freeway corridor due to an increase in traffic and notably truck traffic. Noise attenuation measures that would be applied in any widening of the Eastern Freeway and specifically whether noise would be attenuated to a standard of 63dBA or 68dBA. Impacts on the future provision of the Doncaster Rail. Public transport initiatives associated with the NEL project. 5. Write to local Members of Parliament seeking their support for NELA to provide better opportunities for Boroondara residents to participate in the consultation process and for NELA to provide additional detailed information regarding the impacts of the corridor options, in particular the impacts of Option A on Boroondara. The timing and lack of available detailed information about the four corridor options is considered inappropriate. It is unreasonable to expect the community and Council to prepare a meaningful submission within such a short time frame, originally 24 days, and with little information. The resolution sought to provide the community and Council sufficient time and information with which to make an informed decision on the proposed four NEL corridors. In direct response to this resolution and a similar request from the ‘North East Link - Group of Councils’, of which Boroondara is a member, NELA extended the feedback period from 31 August 2017 to 18 September 2017. NELA also hosted a drop-in style information session in Boroondara on Thursday 7 September 2017. Council officers have requested more and detailed information from NELA several times. Officers are yet to receive any information from NELA in response to these requests, despite continued follow-up. The lack of information has made a proper and fully informed assessment of the options very difficult for both Council officers and the community and is considered to have compromised the community engagement process run by NELA. With the above in mind, Council officers have prepared a draft submission for consideration, endorsement and presentation to NELA. The lack of information has been a significant issue and the submission is based on the limited information available. City of Boroondara North East Link Page 3 of 49 Services Special Committee Agenda 18/09/17 4. Outline of key issues/options 4.1 Corridor Options NELA released four corridor options for the NEL on 7 August 2017. The four corridor options are shown in Attachment 1. In summary, the four options are: Option A From the M80, this corridor would follow the Greensborough Highway south and connect with the Eastern Freeway near Bulleen Road. It would require additional lanes on the Eastern Freeway between Chandler Highway and Springvale Road. Based on information provided at a NELA information session, it is understood that the upgrade of the Eastern Freeway would involve an additional two lanes in each direction between Chandler Highway and Doncaster Road and an additional lane in each direction between Doncaster Road and Springvale Road. Option B From the M80 and direct connection is provided to EastLink south of Canterbury Road. It would not require upgrades to the Eastern Freeway. Option C Similar to Option B, this corridor would connect to EastLink south of Canterbury Road and not require any upgrades to the Eastern Freeway. Option D This corridor connects with EastLink south of Ringwood and travel east using part of the proposed Healesville Freeway Reserve. NELA has advised they have considered the following items in their assessment of the corridor options: Reducing traffic congestion in the north-east. Getting trucks off residential roads in the north-east. Connecting more people to jobs and education. Connecting businesses. Making freight move more efficiently. Improving public transport connections and travel times. Improving connections for pedestrians and cyclists. Ability to protect the environment, culture, heritage and open spaces. Ability to minimise impacts from construction-related traffic. City of Boroondara North East Link Page 4 of 49 Services Special Committee Agenda 18/09/17 a. Corridor Option A Corridor Option A is considered to have the most direct impact on the City of Boroondara. From consideration of the available information, corridor Option A is considered to negatively impact Boroondara in the following