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The Assessment Manager Sunshine Coast Regional Council Submission opposing Development Application MCU18/0111 Purpose of submission The signatories [Attachment A) of this submission to the Sunshine Coast Regional Council (Council) strenuously object to development application MCU18/0111, recently lodged with the Council. The application has been deemed ‘code assessable’. The applicants, Synergy Property Partners and Place Design Group Pty Ltd, are seeking a development perm it for Material Change of Use (Service Station and Food and Drink Outlet) at 19 & 21 Bunya Street Maleny (Real Property Description: Lot 9 & 10 RP 26376). This site is directly opposite the Maleny State Primary School. It is w ithin 40 metres of the nearest classroom and within 60 metres of other school buildings and the school’s pool complex. This is the second time the Maleny community has been confronted by the unacceptable prospect of a service station on this site. In 2012, a very similar application was lodged, but the local applicant voluntarily withdrew the application, due to overwhelming community outrage. To find we have to fight another service station on this site defies belief. We expected that the absolutely valid concerns of our community on the first occasion stood as a guarantee that Council would protect our interests by ensuring that the Maleny community would have a strong voice in any further decisions on the development of this controversial site. W ith this application deemed ‘code assessable’, our expectations have not been m et Our strong belief is that this development application, given its unique nature, should have been deemed ‘impact assessable’, even though it sits within the District Centre Zone of the Maleny Local Plan. The purpose of our submission is to work within Council’s planning scheme to establish, without doubt, that our primary school precinct is no place for a service station and two fast food outlets. If this development at the entry to the town is allowed to proceed, its obvious incompatibility with Maleny’s character, aesthetic and community expectations would stand as a lasting monument to a decision that put commercial gain ahead of the health and safety of Maleny’s children. If Maleny needs another fuel outlet, surely there are other sites in the appropriate zone where it would be far less intrusive to health, safety and aesthetics. If this development at the entry to the town is allowed to proceed, its obvious incompatibiiity with Maieny's character, brand, scenic amenity and community expectations would stand as a lasting monument to a decision that put commercial gain ahead of the safety and health of Maieny's children, residents and visitors. If Maleny really needs another fuel outlet, surely there is another site in the appropriate zone where it would be far less intrusive to safety, health and aesthetics. Quiensland Legislative Assembly 1 5 MAY t o n Background At peak hour queutng cars extend 500 m atong landsborough'Malw^V Road from the school crossing to the Erowal site Right turns to the High School cause delay at peak hour and queuing back past the sersnce station site Rtght and left turns from Sunya Street can fae delayed by aueulr\g traffic at peak hour. Pedestrians can delay right and left Bowling club turns and hotel traffic WoOiworth s supermarket 9^. Traffic in Sunya Street becomes over-capacity here at peak hours, at the supervisor-controlled school pedestrian crossif^g. There can be extensive vehicle queuing and d^ays of up to 15 mif^utes V Roundabout can become choked at hour Figure 1 1.0 The site This figure shows the proposed site of the service station and the location of some of the existing traffic features that are relevant to a traffic impact assessment. 1.0 Traffic congestion around the site It would be difficult to find a more congested site for introduction of a service station (see Figure 1] in Maleny, In technical terms, a level of service (LOS) of E or F can be assigned to this stretch of Bunya Street when there is peak hour queuing. With LOS F conditions, every vehicle moves in lockstep with the vehicle in front of it, with frequent slowing required. Travel time cannot be predicted, with vehicular traffic demand exceeding the capacity of the road system. 2.0 S uitability o f the site The evidence clearly shows that this is not a suitable site for a service station, as traffic turning into the service station, via the main entrance on Bunya Street, w ill only exacerbate traffic delays. There are issues of road safety w ith turning traffic attempting to pass through queuing traffic and a large increase in the risk of car/pedestrian conflicts. In addition, at peak hour, right and left turns at the service station w ill be held up by pedestrian traffic - mainly high school students. 3.0 Alienation o f school bus parking taar CKT 1 ^ ' - ‘ ' i i i uti f j , - 1 j' e 1 ..... 8vi>f» S irttt r - — ............ .............. .........."■! Figure 2 Figure 2, above, is taken from the development application. The applicant expects to take over a length of school bus zone parking to allow a right-turn lane to be installed In Bunya Street to provide access to the service station. The blue arrow on Figure 1 represents the length and location of the affected bus zone. If school bus parking is to be reduced, there w ill be an increased flow of school children using the school crossing and a commensurate increase in traffic delays. Car parking for parents dropping off/picking up children w ill be further reduced. There are road safety issues associated with changing the route that children take when walking to school. Our question to Council is where is this bus parking supposed to go if the DA is approved and implemented, as detailed in the application. The application provides no answers to this key issue. What w ill the Council do to protect bus and car parking at the school? Guide to this submission In the following pages we examine; 1.0 Traffic concerns We address the egregious errors and omissions in the traffic modelling described in the Lambert & Rehbein Traffic Impact Assessment and provide a realistic assessment of the proposed development's impacts on traffic, parking and road operations. 2.0 Inconsistent fit with Maleny We argue that hinterland towns are disadvantaged by the planning scheme. The presence of a service station and food outlet on this prominent Bunya Street entry-point to Maleny is a gross mismatch with the town's character and would detract from its amenity in a variety of ways. 3.0 Health and safety We present evidence that a service station on that site, within 40 metres of the Maleny Primary School is a serious health and safety risk to the school's 403 pre-schoolers and primary students. As well, we question the desirability of situating two fast food outlets so close to both the primary and high schools. 4.0 Community expectations We express the community's disappointment that despite the grave community concern the first application attracted. Council has deemed this second application 'code assessable'. This has deprived us of the opportunity to make a mandated response. We argue too that Council's performance criteria relate to urban contexts, and do not reflect the realities of Maleny. We review Council's policy documents to identify the nature of its commitments to communities. 5.0 What conclusions can be drawn We summarise our concerns with Council's approach to this development application and restate the importance of applying duty of care in its assessment. 1. Traffic conditions around the Bunya Street site 1.1 Lambert & Rehbein Traffic Impact Assessment does not address road safety and traffic flow We note that the applicants’ consultants have used the SIDRA modelling software when it should not have been applied. The applicants have only looked at traffic impacts in the confines of the Bunya and Cudgerie Street intersection. There is no modelling of the impacts of turning traffic at the service station site at peak hour. These are turns from Bunya Street through queuing traffic. There are high pedestrian movements - high school children - crossing the service station entrance that could bring Bunya Street turning traffic to a halt at peak hour. No modelling has been done of the impacts o f the removal of school bus parking. W ill the removal of bus parking result in increased use of the school pedestrian crossing, causing greater traffic delays and adversely affecting road safety? We want to know what impacts there w ill be on road safety and traffic flow in the vicinity of the school. The development application fails to address these fundamental issues. 1.2 Need to redefine the area of impact assessment To address this oversight, the impact assessment area needs to be redefined to extend from the roundabout at the Obi Obi bridge to the Erowal retirement village. This would mean that the traffic impact assessment would then be required to evaluate all impacts introduced by the service station and food outlets. This takes in, amongst other things, road safety and health impacts at the school, loss of bus and car parking, safety of pedestrians, and worsened traffic delays over the full length of road where there is currently queuing. This encompasses a distance o f approximately 1,040 metres. This is the extent captured in the Google image that is the cover page for our submission. It w ill be a useful reference for traffic and safety issues, as it sets the proposed development In the context of its relationship to the school precinct, intersecting roads and features such as the school pedestrian crossing and bus parking.

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