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

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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.

Please refer toAttachment B: Traffic Impact Assessment Report; Issues and Concerns for more comprehensive details.

1.3 Key points Our reviewer observes that it would be difficult to find a more congested site for introduction of a service station.

The Lambert & Rehbein Traffic Impact Assessment Report does not address this reality. It is seriously flawed as it has used invalid modelling and incorrect assumptions to estimate the traffic impacts of the application. The estimates of traffic efficiency, pre and post development, are invalid because:

• Traffic queuing at the school pedestrian crossing is not present in the modelling results i.e. the model is not representative of current or future traffic conditions • The modelling assumes traffic velocities of close to 60 km/h in Bunya Street are possible when the speed zone is 40 km /h and the actual traffic velocity can be very low at peak hours, with extensive queuing. (LOS F conditions) • New traffic generation by the service station seems to have been grossly underestimated, as it seems to have been calculated using 10 hours of operation per day. Elsewhere in the development application it is stated that the service station w ill be open 24 hours per day. A new traffic generation would then scale up by a factor of 24/10 - that is by 240%.

There are numerous unsubstantiated statements, as well as omissions of key areas of investigation, in the Traffic Impact Assessment Report, including; • Impact assessment area appears to have been chosen to restrict the scope of investigation of impacts to the Cudgerie/Bunya Street intersection and Cudgerie St. • States that increased traffic from the development would be ‘insignificant’ as a high proportion of Maleny’s residents used public transport. There is no significant public transport in Maleny that would be used to access the service station. • Claims that 70% of the development's customers would arrive via Landsborough-Maleny Road i.e. from beyond the town via the road from the coast. This is unlikely as parents doing the school run at the prim ary and high schools are likely to be the prime users of the service station during peak hours. • Avoids examining the impacts o f the loss of the car and bus parking it proposes to remove (two-thirds of the school-side bus parking, and half of the total bus parking]. • Does not address the extent of and interactions w ith Bunya Street at the entrance to the proposed service station. • Issues of road and pedestrian safety been addressed.

Our reviewer concludes that the Lambert & Reihbien Traffic Impact Assessment Report's modelling is;

... irrelevant fo r traffic assessment purposes [see Attachment B; p. 11/.

1.3.1 No risk or safety assessment Further, contrary to the requirements o f the Department of Transport & Main Roads'Guide to Traffic Impact Assessments, p.35: the applicants’ Traffic Impact Assessment Report contains neither a risk assessment nor a road safety assessment (see Attachment B: pp 8-9).

1.3.2 Trip generation and discount fuel

The consultant’s calculations of right and left turn numbers appear to ignore the fact that at peak hour, the highest traffic flows to both the primary and high school w ill be coming from the direction of the town (see Attachment B: see 8.7, p. 8).

We strongly suspect that this development w ill follow the example of the 2012 application, which was intended as a discount fuel outlet for IGA. In this case, given its physical proximity to the site (200 m away] and its established business model, we suspect the proposed development is intended as a Woolworths discount fuel outlet. That would escalate traffic disruption to an utterly untenable extent.

1.3.3 Inconsistent with the prim ary function of this area ~ school and its precinct

Finally, the proposed development is completely inconsistent with the existing primary function of this area: the primary school and its precinct. The commercial intent of a service station and 2 fast food outlets is to attract as many vehicles as possible. This would seriously disrupt the function of the school, by escalating existing traffic congestion and posing risks to pedestrians and vehicles.

1.3.4 Attachments

In addition to Attachment B: Traffic impact assessment report - issues and concerns, please refer to Attachment C: Health risks and Attachment D: Our counter-arguments to compliance statements from Place Design Group and Attachment E: Challenges to applicants’ Response to TMR State Codes.

1.3.5 Conclusions

For these reasons, and many more examined in our review, we argue that traffic modelling in the Lambert & Rehbein document is so flawed that it cannot be used to demonstrate that there is little or no impact on traffic efficiency. We request that a peer-reviewed traffic impact assessment be undertaken to ensure a robust assessment of traffic impacts to provide a reliable source for Council's and Dept. Transport & Main Roads assessment and decision-making purposes. See Attachment B: Traffic impact assessment report - issues and concerns. 2 Maintaining the integrity of Maleny’s brand

2.1 Default of'code assessable' can work against hinterland towns A major concern with the designation of ‘code assessable’ for this proposed development is that the generic approach, largely applied in the compliance codes does not respond to the realities of hinterland towns like Maleny. Most particularly, we refer to the outcomes for District Centre Zones. Reading through these, it is clear they are intended for urban developments. As an example, the emphasis on ‘activity centres’ clearly envisages a scale and configuration that is not present, nor appropriate, in a non-urban context. This incongruity puts hinterland residents at a considerable disadvantage when arguing for the different and distinct attributes of a small town that owes its intrinsic character and charm to development patterns that were more sensitive to the nuances of such locations.

It also allows development applicants to use this discrepancy to comply with the ‘activity centre' outcome, even though that outcome bears no explicit resemblance to the development proposed (in this case a service station and fast food outlets). Nor is the ‘activity centre’ scope relevant to the context of a small country town environment. As inDevelopment Form Overall Outcomes (c), which requires that:

In addition to retail business activities, development provides fo r a mix of other business activities, including food and drink outlets, health care services, offices and an appropriate range o f community activities and support services that promote an active mixed-use environment.

When it comes to scale, the proposed development appears to be smaller than that assumed by the ‘activity centre’ outcome. While the proposed development has two food and drink outlets, the combination of its location and the extra traffic it would generate would actually have a negative impact on the existing adjacent business activities - which are stand-alone health care services and offices along the street: and even more so, on the ‘community activities’ - the school opposite - which is the central focus of this area. The inconsistencies o f scale and context render theOverall Outcomes meaningless in the Maleny context.

These generic outcomes, together with no obligation to consult, send a message to developers that approval is a foregone conclusion. This expectation is clearly expressed in the applicants’ documentation. Thus, developers are enabled by the planning scheme to ignore and override the completely legitimate concerns of the people who must live with the long-term negative consequences of their development.

2.2 Maieny's brand is its uniqueness The Maleny Local Plan makes frequent reference to the town’s identity, character and heritage. In Outcome (c):

Development retains the key built forms, streetscape, landscape character and natural environment elements that contribute to the setting, character and identity of Maleny as a rural town with a strong sense o f place and associations with the past.

In the following paragraphs we w ill concentrate on ‘sense of place’ as it is the overarching concept that incorporates all the elements described in the Maleny Local Plan. The prim ary significance of ‘sense of place’ is acknowledged in many disciplines - architecture, anthropology, environmental psychology, geography, sociology and landscape architecture. In his essay. The Distinctive City, American urban planner Edward T McMahon draws attention to the vital economic importance of a community’s distinctiveness, as reflected in ‘sense of place’: I f I have learned anything from my career in urban planning, it is this: a community’s appeal drives economic prosperity. I have also learned, that while change is inevitable, the destruction o f a community's unique character and identity is not. Progress does not demand degraded surroundings. Communities can grow without destroying the things people love.

A 2010 study conducted by the Knight Foundation and Gallup polls surveyed 43,000 people in 26 American cities [Soul o f the Community Survey). One of the study’s findings was that communities w ith the highest levels of attachment also had the highest rates of gross domestic product growth and the strongest economies. There is no reason that this would not also be the case in Australia, and indeed Maleny.

2.3 What is it about Maleny?

Maleny is a gem, particularly in Queensland, where the depressing frequency of small country towns in economic decline is all too common. Maleny thrives for many reasons. People - both residents and visitors - respond to Maieny's ‘sense of place’ - both its physical features and its capacity to invoke positive emotional and psychological responses. Physical form, activity and meaning combine to create people's sense o f place. Maieny's identity is based on that mix. It is the connections residents make w ith each other, their common sense of identity, all residing in their attachment to what Maleny offers.

‘Sense o f place' goes deeper than the quaintness of heritage streetscapes and Friesian cows in paddocks. ‘Sense of place' speaks to the high proportion of people who live in Maleny for values-based reasons. It could be to bring their children up in a simpler, more authentic environment without the stresses and pollution of urban life. Or retirees who finally have time to enjoy the authentic connections and activities Maleny offers. Often people make career sacrifices, seeing a lower income or restricted opportunities as a trade-off for living in a place that they feel coincides with their values.

Maleny is a vibrant entity, built and driven by its community. In commercial terms, Maleny has developed one of the most successful brands in the Australian tourism market. The authenticity of this small town and its local businesses has created a lucrative, year-round short-break tourism and wedding industry. The Hinterland wedding industry is valued in excess of $50million annually, and Maieny's popularity with tourists continues to grow, https://www.sunshinecoastdailv.com.au/news/the-coast-region-beating- noosa-coolum-in-tourism-g/3293419/These vital local income streams rely on Maieny's brand as a unique small rural town.

2.4 Lipstick on a pig The applicants want us to believe that the proposed service station/fast food outlets, on this highly visible site at the entry to town, w ill be an asset to the Maleny community. One of their compliance statements in response to theOverall Outcomes fo r District Centre Zone states:

The design has been specifically created fo r the Maleny environment, including Queenslander characteristics and appropriate landscaping in order to create an attractive and functional development on a key corner site on the entry to Maleny, (Outcome i)

This would be funny if it wasn't such an ominous harbinger of the one size fits all power o f‘code assessable'. However the development is camouflaged - whether by a nod in the general direction of Queenslander architecture, or w ith a token facade of tropical vegetation, a service station is a service station. This service station would be in the direct-line-of-sight of incoming traffic from Landsborough- Maleny Road. Approaching traffic w ill round the last leafy bend on the pleasant drive into town to be confronted by ugly expanses of concrete, an array of bowsers, garish, intrusive signage and a confusion of cars entering and exiting the site. 2.4.1 A Queenslander icon at our gates? The only iconic element in the scene presented by the development application is that it is part of the stultifying sameness of every main road and highway - not only in Australia - but in so many parts o f the world. Most emphatically, this scenario does not reflect anything about Maleny. As a first impression of the town it is a totally unacceptable, indeed grotesque, disruption of Maieny's aesthetic and iconic brand.

2.4.2 Death by a thousand cuts

The pro-development bias o f‘code assessable' carries the risk that unique towns like Maleny will eventually succumb to the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ of insidious, incremental change. Sadly, the inevitability of that path is that gems like Maleny would come to look and feel like anywhere else as the creeping ugliness and sameness we see everywhere takes hold.

The Maleny community expects that the Sunshine Coast Regional Council will protect the character and identity embodied in the 'sense of place’ of Maleny and other Hinterland towns. To allow them to be overtaken by grossly inappropriate development, as with this application, is as aesthetically and commercially misguided as concreting over a Maroochydore or Caloundra beach to convert it to car parking for tourists who come to visit the beach. 3 Health & safety risks attached to the proposed development

In this section we examine health and safety risks in the following order:

• Traffic safety and traffic pollution • Vapours, fires and explosions in service stations • Obesity and fast food.

3.1 Traffic safety, traffic pollution and the Maleny context

3.1.1 Traffic safety As we have shown in Section (1) it is clear the proposed service station and food outlets w ill escalate an already congested traffic situation in the primary school precinct. With the higher volumes of traffic, an increased risk would apply to both pedestrians and vehicles. Our front-page Google image w ill assist in identifying the risk 'hotspots', discussed below:

3.1.1.1 Cudgerie Street

Cudgerie Street is a two-way street servicing the Lawyer Street businesses at the rear of the corner site proposed for the service station/food outlets. At present it has a pedestrian crossing close to the Bunya/Cudgerie intersection. Constant streams of high school students use this at peak school times.

It is proposed that vehicles from the service station exit via Cudgerie Street. The exit would be located approximately 30 metres from the intersection of Cudgerie and Bunya Streets. We emphasise that Cudgerie Street is a two-way street. The safety risks are as follows:

I. Vehicles turning rightfrom Bunya into Cudgerie (across 2 streams of oncoming traffic) have only 30 metres to react to pedestrians and exiting vehicles (including fuel tankers) from the service station site.

II. As the total length of Cudgerie is 64 metres, Lawyer Street drivers w ill also have a similar short reaction distance as they turn into Cudgerie. The food outlets on the Cudgerie/Lawyer Streets boundary w ill reduce visibility from Lawyer Street.

III. Vehicles turning right fromCudgerie into Landsborough-Maleny Road must also cross 2 streams of oncoming traffic (upper Bunya & Landsborough-Maleny). As this is the obvious route for exiting fuel tankers, it would pose a serious risk of a collision between a fuel tanker and another vehicle. There is the additional risk of an electricity sub-station 50m from Cudgerie Street on the corner of upper Bunya Street.

Other types of heavy vehicles also emanate from and visit Lawyer Street as the low impact businesses there include a landscape supplier, cabinetmakers, motor repairs and ride-on mower shop.

3.1.1.2 State-controlled section of Bunya Street • The school pedestrian crossing is located 54 metres towards town from the proposed Bunya Street entry to the service station/food outlets. At peak school times, morning and afternoon, the operation of the crossing already causes traffic queues frequently stretching to the Maple Street roundabout, just beyond the Obi Obi bridge. In morning peak times, the traffic queues at this point, as well as about 500 metres on the Landsborough-Maleny Road in the vicinity of the Erowal retirement village. Anecdotal accounts say that what should be a 5-minute trip from Erowal to town becomes a 15-minute trip. If the application is approved, the queues will lengthen and children and motorists w ill face heightened risks. In lines of stop-start traffic it is easy enough for motorists to find themselves inadvertently crossing or stopped on

10 a pedestrian crossing. This would endanger children’s safety. In these conditions too, motorists are at greater risk of tailgating accidents.

• Vehicles queued at the Bunya Street entry to the proposed service station would present a risk of collision as they crossed into the oncoming traffic lane. Drivers who are accelerating to cross against oncoming traffic have divided attention. This would present a serious risk to the constant stream of student pedestrians - both primary and high school - who walk on the footpath along the site’s frontage. There is also the risk of a crossing car stopped on the verge of the site’s driveway causing a collision with oncoming traffic.

3.1.1.3 Towards town to Maple Street roundabout/Landsborough-Maleny Road • Safety repercussions of increased traffic volumes would also occur at the Maple Street roundabout, which has 2 street entries and 1 shopping centre entry. All entries carry constant traffic flows. The delays caused by the pedestrian crossing and increased flows traffic from the development in the school precinct would increase the safety risk of motorists at the roundabout, as traffic from the 3 entries banked up.

• The section of Landsborough-Maleny Road immediately beyond the state-controlled section of Bunya Street has a series of curves that lim it motorists’ line-of-site. It is inevitable that increased traffic flows and delays created by the service station customers exiting and entering would increase the risk of tailgating accidents in this part of Landsborough-Maleny Road.

3.2 Traffic pollution health risks W riting in The Conversation (April 6, 2011), QUT Professor of Public Health, Adrian Barnet said 'the body of evidence on the unhealthy effects of traffic pollution is now longer than a stretch limo’. He refers to recent studies that have linked traffic pollution with reduced lung and cognitive function, and an increased risk of asthma, breast cancer, lung cancer, childhood leukaemia, heart disease, emergency hospital admissions and death.

There is incontrovertible evidence to show that, due to their size, physiology and behaviour, children are more vulnerable to air borne hazards than adults.

Children are more heavily exposed to toxins in proportion to their body weight, and have more years o f life ahead o f them in which they may suffer long-term effects from early exposure rhttps://www.prb.org/childrensenvironmentalhealthrisksandremedies/l

The same source states that children o f all ages, not just the very young, are at greater risk than adults.

The findings from a 2017 University of California, Berkeley research project add another dimension to children’s vulnerability. Exposure to high levels of traffic-related air pollution appears to be a direct cause of the type of DNA damage known as telomere shortening;

The study adds to previous evidence that air pollution causes oxidative stress, which can damage lipids, proteins, and DNA. Research has suggested that children may have diff^erent telomere shortening regulation than adults, which might make them more vulnerable to the damaging effects of air pollution.

A definition from https;//www.tasciences.com/what-is-a-telomere/ describes telomeres as;

11 ... the caps at the end o f each strand o f DNA that protect our chromosomes, like the plastic tips at the end o f shoelaces. Without the coating, shoelaces become frayed until they can no longer do their job, just as without telomeres, DNA strands become damaged and our cells can't do their job.

3.3 The dangers of idling In recent years, a major public health focus in traffic pollution is ‘idling’ - leaving engines running while stationary. Overseas there are now many countries and cities where there are anti-idling ordinances that restrict the idling of vehicles. London has taken this step, https://idlingaction.london/idling-air-qualitv/

Reducing unnecessary idling is a relatively easy way to improve air quality. There are moves afoot in urhan areas of Australia to encourage parents not to leave their cars idling when dropping off and picking up their children in a school precinct.

3.4 The Maleny context

3.4.1 Traffic In the Maleny context, the application for a service station opposite the school includes putting the entry to the site on Bunya Street. This w ill require traffic turning into the service station to wait, directly opposite the school, with their engines idling, for a gap in oncoming traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road, the high school section of Bunya Street and vehicles from the service station and Lawyer Street exiting Cudgerie Street towards the town. This stretch of road, through the school precinct, down to the roundabout beyond the Obi Bridge, is already heavily congested at peak times. The service station w ill attract more traffic to the school precinct area, resulting in queuing cars w ith their engines idling.

3.4.2 Discount fuel If, as is possible, given the proxim ity and business model of Woolworths, this is intended as a discount fuel outlet, the problem of idling traffic w ill escalate significantly. W ith the service station on that site, traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road w ill also regularly slow to a stop/start pace, generating more pollution from stationary vehicles. Of course, even without queuing in peak times, the service station and food outlets would generate more passing traffic, which would also increase air pollution.

3.4.3 Air pollution The 14 April 2018 issue ofNew Scientist reported that children benefit from even a small reduction in air pollution:

In 2007, levels o f air pollution in the city o f Stockholm in Sweden fe ll by about 5 to 15 per cent after it introduced a congestion charge. This small reduction seems to have halved the number of children admitted to hospital with asthma attacks, from 18.7 kids per 10,000 to 8.7 per 10,000 according to a study by Emilia Simeonova o f John Hopkins University in Maryland.

The significance of this study in the Maleny context is that it would be negligent to allow the introduction of a development whose business model is dependent upon attracting as many vehicles as possible. There is no overriding reason to site a service station 40m from the primary school.

12 3.5 Vapours, fires and explosions in service stations

3.5.1 Vapours 3.5.1.1 Stage 1 & 2 Vapour Recovery technology

The development applicants say that the service station w ill employ Stage 1 & 2 Vapour Recovery technology to capture vapours. Stage 1 applies to tankers filling underground tanks. It is said to be 97% effective. Stage 2 applies to vapours that escape from bowser hoses as cars are being filled. Stage 2 efficiency is rated at 85%. These estimates come from the NSW EPAStandards & Best Practice Guidelines fo r Vapour Recovery a t Petrol Service Stations. The introduction of Stage 1 and 2 Vapour Recovery has reduced the volume of toxic vapours escaping. Because Stage 1 & 2 Vapour Recovery systems began to be used around 2010, the information presented here takes into account the ameliorating effect of this technology.

However, the Executive Summary of the Place Design Group’s Planning Report reflects a certain ambivalence in their statement on Stage 1 and 2 Vapour Recovery:

The redevelopment o f the service station site to include contemporary a ir pollutant controls (Stage 1 and 2 Vapour Recovery System) w ill provide a substantial reduction in the potential peak pollutant exposures at surrounding sensitive land uses.

The most that the applicants can say is that the risk o f peak pollutant exposures is ‘substantially reduced’. They remain silent on the nature of the 'surrounding sensitive land uses’.

3.5.1.2 Fugitive vapours do pose a significant risk While some of the toxic elements of fuel have been removed over time, fuel still contains a variety of chemicals considered to be of grave concern for human health. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene have been unequivocally implicated.

Should we be worried about the 3% not captured from tankers or the 15% of vapours escaping from bowsers as people fill their cars? Another source o f vapour is spills at the bowser. Liquid fuel spills and droplets are more likely to vaporise into the air than run into an underground drain. The seriousness of risks from these vapours is reflected in a 2015 American research project on the health of fuel station employees. It calculates and takes into account the impacts of fugitive vapours, fuel spills and droplets rhttps://link.springer.com/content/pdf/lQ.1007%2Fs40572-015-0074-8.pdfl. We can conclude that even small amounts of fugitive vapours are dangerous.

3.5.1.3 Adverse health impacts of benzene vapours The adverse health impacts of benzene vapours from petrol are well documented. A research paper Human Health Risk Due to Urban Petrol Stations presented at the 2016 International Conference of Urban Risks fhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/3057214221 offers alarming evidence that benzene has significant adverse health effects either through acute or prolonged exposure. Inhalation is the dominant path of benzene exposure in humans.

The research focussed on residents in Oporto Portugal who lived close to service stations. The study showed that for those living within 50 metres of the vicinity of petrol stations, the leukaemia rate was 6 times higher than a 1998 population benchmark of 8-9 leukaemia cases per 100,000 inhabitants annually for the general population. The study acknowledged that in some of their study area vapour recovery technology could have reduced the incidence of leukaemia. However, that does not mean there is no risk.

13 In common with the rest of the literature reviewed, the study warned against complacency:

.... this is a carcinogenic pollutant, which means that no secure level can be defined fo r human health protection.

The Oporto study concluded that a safety buffer of 150 metres from a service station is required for residential areas to avoid dangerous exposure.

3.5.1.4 Gas leaks The proponents’ documents make no specific mention of LPG gas being stored in tanks. However, on the site plans produced by Verve it does state that the 'final product t3q>e to be confirmed by fuel retailer'. This, therefore, does not preclude LPG gas being stored on site, which potentially presents the hazard of leaking gas. The most recent example of this hazard occurred on 3 May 2018. A gas leak at a BP service station, opposite Maroochydore State High School, resulted in police evacuating the area and cordoning it off for several hours. Paramedics were brought to the site and put on standby. The incident exacerbated usual congestion from the afternoon school rush and presented a safety risk to all those in the vicinity.

Research states: no safe level of exposure

Pre-school and primary school children spend 6 hours a day, 5 days a week at the Maleny primary school, most for a period of 7 years. This equates to around 8,400 hours of exposure over their primary schooling years.

They would be 40 to 60 metres away from the service station. This is long-term exposure at the same distance where it was found Oporto residents had a rate of leukaemia 6 times higher than the norm. While the applicants claim the risk of polluting vapours would be ‘substantially reduced’, all the studies reviewed argued that there is no safe level of exposure to these vapours - particularly when exposure is long-term. Particularly when children are far more vulnerable to air pollution than adults.

3.5.2 Fire and explosions It is not alarmist to raise the risks of fire and explosions in service stations. It happens. In September 2017 a service station fire at Drysdale, near Geelong, destroyed tankers and sent shrapnel from exploding gas bottles into adjacent properties fhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2Ql7-09-07/drvsdale-fire-fuel-tankers1. No one was injured, but the news footage shows billowing clouds of toxic smoke spreading over the neighbourhood.

3.5.2.1 French study identifies products that caused fires and explosions

A French study examined the origins of 270 fires in services stations. Their research covered fires in France between 1958-2007 as well as 19 fires that were particularly severe in other countries between 1970-2005. The following table shows the types of fires and the products involved;

Products Liquid LPG Gas Other (oils Unknown Total fuels cartridges Waste) accidents Release hazardous 199 12 5 21 3 237 materials Fires 20 3 5 6 27 60 Explosions 18 1 4 2 6 30 Others (near accidents] 2 1 0 0 4 7 Total accidents 202 13 s 21 32 270 www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/wp-content/files mf/Petrolstations accidents ian09.pdf

14 The researchers note that a percentage of accidents involved more than one product. The table shows that liquid fuels are by far the most prominent cause of accidents.

3.5.2.2 Origins/locations of fires A second table shows the origins of the accidents. The most common are tanks and connected equipment (30.5% of accidents). Connecting pipes and fuel pumps/connected equipment account for 16.5% and 15% respectively. Other causes range from the static electricity generated by drivers and cars, tank fill units, water treatment equipment as well as delivery and customer vehicles.

Given that tanks and connected equipment rate as the most frequent cause of fire, it is a serious concern that the site pians for the proposed Bunya Street service station show their underground tanks situated on the frontage of Bunya Street, opposite the school.

3.5.2.3 Recent fires in Australian service stations

A quick Google search brings up the following news links with video footage:

• In September 2017 a service station fire at Drysdale, near Geelong destroyed tankers and sent shrapnel from exploding gas bottles into adjacent properties. rhttp.7/www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-07/drvsdale-fire-fuel-tankers No one was injured, but the news footage shows billowing clouds of toxic smoke spreading over the neighbourhood. • An incident in October 2017 in Glen Waverly, Victoria. A courier van driver backed into a bowser, which exploded. He was saved by the quick action of service station employees. http://www.mfb.vic.gov.au/News/Service-station-fire-in-Glen-Waverlev.html • Newtown, Sydney 2012: NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Tom Cooper said that crews were trying to contain the blaze and were concerned about four 300-kilogram cylinders of LPG gas. A 150-metre radius exclusion zone was in place. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/newtown-shut-dQwn-as-gas-cvlinder-fire-erupts-at- service-station-20120831-2 S4tv.html • A major fire in Liverpool Sydney, saw Liverpool West Primary School evacuated in 2012. Fire services attended the fire very quickly and trained their hoses on the takeaway LPG gas bottles to keep them cool. The surrounding area was evacuated, including Aldi and KFC. The fire services spokesperson said that the quick response to the fire and threat posed by the gas bottles averted a disaster. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/Q8/20/3571731.htm • In 2009 a rupture in a fuel tanker compartment started a service station fire in Maddington WA. The fire escalated quickly because the driver did not think to use the available fire extinguishers. The WA Department of Mines & Petroleum Resources Safety wrote in their Incident Investigation Report that the event created fireball 60 metres high and 20 metres wide. http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Documents/Dangerous Goods/DGS SafetvStats AR FuelTankerFireAtMaddington2009.pdf

3.5.2.4 Maleny has no fu ll time Fire & Emergency Service

Clearly fires in service stations cannot be considered a negligible risk. If an accident like one of these occurred in the proposed Bunya Street service station, 40 - 60 m from the school, how long would it take for help to arrive? Maleny has no full-tim e Fire & Emergency Service. The speed of a fire and emergency response is a defining factor in containing service station fires to prevent a disaster.

With only a part-time auxiliary Fire & Emergency Service in Maleny, the nearest constantly staffed Fire & Emergency Service is in Caloundra - at least half an hour’s drive away in good driving conditions.

15 3.6 Obesity and fast food

The proposed Bunya Street development has two 60 sq. m areas that are intended to be leased as food and drink outlets. In one section of the DA documents they are described as ‘boutique food’ cafes, in another 'fast food outlets'. As the concept of a ‘boutique cafe’ in a service station is novel to say the least, the location’s close proxim ity to both the prim ary and high schools suggests the intention is to attract passing students w ith fast food. The proposed site is on the route taken by hundreds of high school students morning and afternoon. The opportunistic development of service stations combined with fast food outlets appears to be a growing trend, with the emergence of several recent service station/food outlets situated close to schools in other locations on the Sunshine Coast.

A recent study carried out by the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Department of Health & Human Services examined the food preferences of children. It found:

Children's food preferences were mostly fo r unhealthy foods, and these were readily available in the canteen. The perception about what foods were healthy was limited. Despite being asked to develop a 'healthy' menu, the majority o f choices made by the children were not healthy. Children described unhealthy choices as preferable because o f taste o f the food, i f it was sugary, i f it was quick to eat, available and cheap. (Waddington, Stevens, MacIntyre & Shaw]

Is Council prepared to accept the risks to children, presented by this application - of both the health risks of childhood obesity and the risks of a fuel outlet? We strongly object and assert that these risks are unacceptable for the following reasons;

1. Childhood obesity is linked to increased risk o f adverse long-term health outcomes. Australian children living today could be the firs t modern population cohorts to expect a decline in life expectancy. 2. Australia has one o f the highest rates o f childhood obesity among developed countries. 1 in 4 Australian children (aged 2-17) were overweight or obese in 2014-15. https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/knowledge base/organised sport/sport and gove rnment policv objectives/childhood obesity

Parents & Citizens Committees across Queensland have banned unhealthy foods in their tuckshops. In 2017, the City of London imposed a 400 m buffer between schools and fast food outlets. The move was prompted by what the Mayor called the ‘ticking time-bomb’ of childhood obesity in London, where 40% of children were overweight by the time they left prim ary school. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/total-ban-on-fastfood-outlets-within-400m-of-london- schools-a3 702 3 76.html

There is a childhood obesity epidemic in Australia, with one in four children overweight or obese. Public health experts warn that because of this, there is a risk that this generation of children will not live as long as their parents. We expect that decisions made at all levels of government reflect the major concerns of Australian society.

16 4. Community expectations of the planning system have not been met In a video presentation https://www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/ aimed at informing Queensland communities, a Department of Infrastructure, Local Government & Planning Director, Meagan Baynton explains the recent changes to the Qld Planning Act. In particular, she identified the differences between 'impact assessable’ and ‘code assessable’ development applications. She returned to the same point several times, reassuring communities that their best interests would be protected:

'Code assessable' is not intended to shut down community input. It is a planning mechanism, which enables Councils to handle those developments it knows communities won’t be surprised by.

Unfortunately, the Maleny communityhas been surprised, indeed dismayed, for the reasons we canvas below:

4.1 Community outrage over 2012 service station application We argue that following their rejection of the 2012 application, the Maleny community had a clear expectation that Council would heed its concerns and ensure that any similar application for this site be subject to mandatory community consultation. In any common sense assessment, a service station situated within 40 to 60 metres of a primary school cannot be considered as a benign or standard development.

We regard Council’s failure to deem a service station development as impact assessable, and thereby require community consultation, as a gross breach of trust by Council. This is even more relevant given the controversial history of the site.

4.2 The inadequacies of ‘Code assessable’ are compounded by generic code outcomes

In section (2) we demonstrated how ‘code assessable’ works against the interests of hinterland towns by applying generic requirements/outcomes that is inconsistent in scale and context for non-urban contexts. The consideration o f‘other relevant matters’ and community input is vital to protect hinterland communities.

We argue that the same mismatch applies more broadly, allowing developers to give equally generic, and, in relation to towns like Maleny, context-free compliance responses that are meaningless. Our examples are taken from Overall Outcomes fo r District Centre Zone:

4.2.1 Outcome (a) District activity centres are developed as vibrant, mixed use places Applicants' compliance statement: The development includes multiple uses being a service station and two (2) food and drink outlets, which w ill provide fo r a variety of retail experiences at the site and encourage active uses in the area beyond the standard '9 to 5’ business hours. As there is only one small service station in thetown, this development w ill positively contribute to the community by providing a local service (i.e. the service station] to local residents and tourists, as well as increasing the towns offering o f boutique food and drink outlets at the entry to town.

Does the service station/food outlet qualify as ‘mixed use' in the Maleny context? This type of standard fuel/food outlet duo is seen as a standalone development on every highway and in urban environments. It is a functional service and it is most unlikely that customers would regard it as a ‘retail experience'.

We don't believe the Maleny community would expect or welcome a 24/7 service station, especially across the road from our prim ary school. This area of Maleny is relatively quiet at night. There are a few residential houses, but the school and businesses dominate. The businesses close around 5pm. The site is 360 metres from the town centre. Its proposed 24/7 operation is entirely alien to the town's culture. The most likely attraction of a 24/7 fuel/food outlet is for young males ‘hanging about'. The most likely

17 'vibrancy' would be the sound of revving cars, squealing tyres and possibly a bit of creative vandalism at the deserted school opposite. This is not bias against young males. It is the reality of parents’ fears when their sons reach the age where they have a car, are risk-prone and strongly influenced by peer pressure. The 24/7 lighting w ill invade the tranquillity of the quiet residential areas along upper Bunya Street and on the hillside in Tallowwood Street, about 300m diagonally opposite the site to the south-west.

The applicants claim they w ill be increasing the town's offering of boutique food and drink outlets at the entry to town. Does anyoneknow people who dine at boutique cafes in service stations? The reality is that service stations do not have boutique food outlets.

Maleny is not the Maroochydore beachfront nor the Mooloolaba tourist strip. It is a small country town, where the stars are visible in the night sky because the street lighting is unobtrusive. There is no ‘night life' to attract tourists and it is doubtful even the quaintness of 24/7 ‘boutique food outlets' at a service station would lure them to Maleny.

4.2.2 Outcome (g)

Development provides for an efficient pattern of land use, where the greatest mix of uses and highest intensity of development is located in areas with relatively high levels of access to public transport facilities and all development has a clear connection to pedestrian, bicycle, public transport and road transport networks and infrastructure.

Applicants' compliance statement: The proposed use is consistent w ith the zone and local plan intent and provides an appropriate natural extension of commercial activity within the Centre Zone. The development w ill provide connections to all relevant transport networks and urban services.

This outcome has no relevance to Maieny's context. Maleny is a car-oriented community. It does not have a well-developed public transport network. It has a small bus service that is not well patronised, due to its timetable and scope limitations. The service bears no resemblance to the public transport networks on the coast.

What this outcome facilitates is an evasive, misleading compliance response. The applicants' claim that the development ‘provides an appropriate natural extension of commercial activity within the Centre Zone' is meaningless nonsense. The opposite is the case: the development is an inappropriate intrusion on this part of Maleny, which is occupied by the school and low impact businesses and deserted by 5 pm. The development would provide no connections ‘to all relevant transport networks and infrastructure' because they do not exist in Maleny. The development certainly would not ‘provide for an efficient pattern of land use' as its presence would seriously impact on road congestion and safety, as we have demonstrated in Sections [1] and (3). The overall scale of this Activity Centre outcome is irrelevant in the Maleny context.

4.3 District centre zoning

The examples of what we regard as the perverse effect of theOverall Outcomes fo r District Centre Zone outcomes in sections (2) and (4) could be applied across the full range of these outcomes. We argue that they appear to work in lock step with zoning inadequacies to increase the risk of inappropriate development decisions for Maleny and other hinterland towns.

The inadequacies o f zoning in the Maleny Local Plan - an example

In response to outcome (b) for the Maleny Local Plan:

(a) Urban and rural development within the Maleny Local Plan area is limited to land within the urban and rural development growth management boundaries respectively as to:

18 • protect and reinforce the identity of Maleny • provide fo r the efficient provision o f infrastructure and services...

the applicants say that the proposed Bunya Street site:

.... is within the Urban Growth Management boundary and the development includes land uses which is (sic) listed as consistent fo r this zone and area.

The site may conform to the Local Plan in respect to zoning, but the proposeduse of the site does not protect and reinforce the identity of Maleny. We argue that as w ith the outcomes for Activity Centres, an open-ended approach to zoning does not appropriately protect the Maleny community's interests. Yet there are mechanisms that Council can employ to prohibit certain types of development within a zone.

4.3 Reviewing Council's stated commitments to its communities

4.3.1 Council's Corporate Plan The Sunshine Coast Regional Council has a series of strategic level documents that clearly articulate Council’s role in protecting Sunshine Coast communities from adverse impacts. Council’s Corporate Plan’s Vision statement says:

Sunshine Coast Regional Council Vision: Australia’s most sustainable region. Healthy. Smart. Creative

'Our vision is designed to deliver a dividend of prosperity and wellbeing for our residents - not only those who live here now but also those who w ill call the Sunshine Coast home in the decades to come.’ [Mayor’s foreword to Sunshine Coast Regional Council Corporate Plan 2018-2022

Goal 3: A healthy environment. Maintaining and enhancing the region’s natural assets, liveability and environmental credentials. A resilient region shaped by clever planning and design • Protection and enhancement of our natural assets and distinctive landscapes • Responsive, accessible and well-managed assets and infrastructure • Transitioning to a sustainable and affordable way of living • A reputation for innovation, sustainability and liveability.

The statements in Council’s Vision [above) would create a reasonable expectation in communities that all these elements are reflected in Council’s planning scheme and its assessment processes.

4.3.2 Council's Risk Management Strategy

Council’s organisational policy for Risk Management lays out the clearest articulation of the intention to protect both the organisation and communities. It is linked to the Corporate Plan’s reference:

A strong community...

In all our communities, people are included, treated with respect and opportunities are available fo r all - safe and healthy communities.

The Risk Management policy document notes that Council risk management approach is consistent with AS/NZ ISO 31000:2009 principles and guidelines. The following guidelines are pertinent to our arguments:

19 Risk management creates and protects value Risk management contributes to the demonstrable achievement of objectives and improvement of performance in, for example, human health and safety, security, legal and regulatory compliance, public acceptance, environmental protection, product quality, project management, efficiency in operations, governance and reputation.

Risk management is an integral part of all organisational processes Risk management is not a stand-alone activity that is separate from the main activities and processes in the organisation. Risk management is part of the responsibilities of management and an integral part of all organisational processes, including strategic planning and all project and change management processes.

Risk management is part of decision making Risk management helps decision makers make informed choices, prioritise actions and distinguish among alternative courses of action.

Risk management is based on the best available information

The inputs to the process of managing risk are based on information sources such as historical data, experience, stakeholder feedback, observation, forecasts and expert judgement, however decision makers should inform themselves of, and should take into account, any limitations o f the data or modelling used or the possibility of divergence among experts.

It is in this document, linked to the Corporate Plan’s reference Strongto Communities that we see most clearly, an action-oriented reflection of Council’s focus on good governance and duty of care. The Risk Management Strategy seeks to protect Council and its reputation by integrating risk assessment and management across the organisation. It commits Council decision makers to using the best available information to make informed decisions across all aspects of Council’s operations.

20 4 Conclusions

The Sunshine Coast Regional CounciTs policy statements across its Corporate Plan, Community Safety, Planning and Risk Management Strategy all make strong and comprehensive statements regarding CounciTs commitment to protecting communities' wellbeing, health and safety. The intention to honour these commitments is said to operate across all areas of Council, including its planning function, via CounciTs Risk Management Strategy.

4.3 Inappropriate development We have drawn CounciTs attention to the ways the generic nature of its Activity Centre outcomes and zoning makes Maleny and other hinterland towns vulnerable to inappropriate development. As well as posing a potential threat to communities' health and safety, as in Maieny's case, these open-ended mechanisms w ill eventually destroy hinterland towns' ‘sense of place' and the economic benefits derived from their uniqueness. This slide into conformity is directly at odds w ith CounciTs pledge in Goal 3 of its Corporate Plan:

Goal 3: A healthy environment. Maintaining and enhancing the region’s natural assets, liveability and environmental credentials. A resilient region shaped by clever planning and design Protection and enhancement of our natural assets and distinctive landscapes

4.4 Code assessable assignment fo r this DA by Council is inappropriate Our most immediate and grave concern lies with CounciTs decision to make the proposed Bunya Street development 'code assessable'. The only safeguard the Maleny community had against the general irrelevance of these generic assessment mechanisms was to have access to the mandated public consultation component that accompanies the 'impact assessable' process.

In the Executive Summary of the applicants' Planning Report (Place Design Group) there is a comment about the community outrage that accompanied the 2012 application for a service station on this site. Clearly, the applicants see 'code assessable' as an open and shut case. They observe:

Moving forward, community opposition cannot affect Council's decision making fo r this application as the Planning Act 2016 bounds the assessment to the code assessable framework. (Executive Summary: p.6).

It is our view that this is an inappropriate arrogance towards legitimate community concern for the health and safety of Maieny's children. Most revealingly, it indicates how confident the applicants is that 'code assessable' is their guarantee of an approval.

It would appear that by agreeing to make this application 'code assessable’ at the pre-lodgement meeting with the applicants, Council had already agreed that ail elements of the proposed development complied with its codes. Yet, in this submission, we have demonstrated that the application does not meet the codes in many ways.

Our submission raised the following 'other relevant matters':

• The applicants' traffic assessment is, in our reviewer's words, irrelevant fo r traffic assessment purposes (see Section 1). Among its many flaws, it does not address safety or reflect the real road conditions in the school precinct.

21 • We have shown that the nature of the proposed development and its entry-point location is clearly not consistent with Maleny’s character. • We have moved beyond the general societal concern about health and safety issues around service stations to identify the explicit risks attached, particular for children, over prolonged periods. • We have examined 'code assessable’ as a mechanism and found it to be wanting as a response to all of the above. • We remember the history of this site and the groundswell of community outrage that accompanied the 2012 application for a service station.

Our reasonable expectation of Council is that it would have employed its considerable resources to protect our interests by examining these obvious ‘other relevant matters’ prior to the pre-lodgement meeting. To borrow a colloquialism, this is not rocket science! Most laypeople when shown the site would reach similar, if less detailed, conclusions as our submission has.

4.5 Summing up

We reiterate that the relaxations afforded by ‘code assessable’ are not justified by the specific circumstances and history of the site. The incongruity is compounded by the irrelevance of many of the applied urban Activity Centre codes to Maleny’s hinterland context.

Breach of duty of care Council will be negligent if it fails to take into account the relevant factors we have raised, which make the relaxations afforded by ‘code assessable’ unjustified. In the absence of relevant performance criteria being applied to the proposed Bunya Street development, we would regard Council’s approval of the development as a negligent breach of its duty of care to protect the interests of the Maleny community. A favourable decision would be entirely inconsistent with the image Council projects in its policies and has enacted in its Risk Management Strategy. This failure would invite reputational damage.

The wrong priorities The relaxations afforded to this developer would be interpreted by the Maleny community as Council elevating the personal economic gain of the developer over the health, wellbeing and amenity of local residents, and in particular its school children.

Review of decision Should such a situation arise, we have been advised that there may be grounds for a review of the decision to approve the application by way of a declaratory order.

22 Attachment A: Signatories

Esta Knudsen, 18 Vista Drive, Balmoral Ridge Qld 4552 Richard Francis, 18 Vista Drive, Balmoral Ridge Qld 4552 Merrick Ilett, Presidentof Maleny State School P & C, 16 Bunya Street, Maleny Qld 4552 Craig Barker, 901 Maleny-Stanley River Road, Booroobin Qld 4552 5. Danyelle Barker, 901 Maleny-Stanley River Road, Booroobin Qld 4552 6. Scott Cameron, 16 Bean St, Maleny Qld 4552 7. Mardi Gill, 1/31 Hakea Avenue, Maleny Qld 4552 8. Kealin Hanigan, 203 Bridge Creek Road, Maleny Qld 4552 jane Jensen, 100 Wells Road, Maleny Qld 4552 10. Angie Kelly, 203 Bridge Creek Road, Maleny Qld 4552 11. Jade Lobenstock, 16 Bean Street, Maleny Qld 4552

23 Attachment B: Traffic impact assessment report - issues and concerns

1. Location Figure 1 shows the proposed location of the service station site and the location of some of the existing traffic features, which are relevant to a traffic impact assessment.

It would be difficult to find a more congested site for introduction of a service station (see Figure 1). 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.

Traffic turning into the service station w ill only exacerbate traffic delays. There are issues of road safety with turning traffic attempting to pass through queuing traffic and a large increase in the risk of car/pedestrian conflicts. And right and left turns at the service station w ill be delayed by school children crossing the entrance. 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. The school bus parking w ill be lost. No discussions have been held with school authorities and P&C about this proposal.

At peak hour queuing can extend 500 m along Landsbofough'MaJeny Road from the schoc^ CfOiwng to the Erowal site

Right turns to the High School cause delay at peak hour and queuing back past the service station site w

Right and left turns from Sunya Street can be delayed by queuing trafiic at peak hour. Pedestrians can delay right and left Bowling club turns and hotel traffic

^ Woolworth s supermarket trafhc

Traffic in Bunya Street becomes over-capacity here at peak hours, at the siipervisor-controiied school pedestrian crossing. There can be extensive vehicle queuing and delays of op to i5 minutes.

Roundabout can become choked at peak hour

Figure 3: Current traffic congestion problems at peak hour in Bunya Street, and the school bus zones

24 2. Conclusions reached from the body of this report

2.1. Any reduction in parking in Bunya Street is unacceptable Figure 1 shows that the applicants are proposing that a significant length of bus parking should be abolished. This would have an unacceptable impact on the safe operation of the school bus infrastructure and on parent parking at the school. It would adversely affect traffic delay due to increased use of the school crossing. The bus-parking zone should be retained. The development application fails to acknowledge any adverse impacts on school car and bus parking and fails provide any ways of mitigating these impacts.

2.2. Area o f assessment

The development application has confined evaluation of adverse traffic impacts to the Bunya/Cudgerie street intersection and Cudgerie Street [see Figure 3). For the reasons outlined in Section 8.1, the area of assessment should be extended to that stretch of road and those road features between the roundabout, near Obi Obi Creek and the Blue Care Maleny Erowal aged care and retirement facility, on the Landsborough- Maleny Road. [See Section 8.1)

2.3. Impacts on safety and traffic delay need to be properly evaluated W ith an extended area of assessment, impacts on road safety and traffic delay would then be needed to be evaluated over the full length of road where queuing occurs. The impact of service station turning traffic on Bunya Street on traffic efficiency and road safety would then form part of the traffic impact assessment. The development application ignores this impact and traffic and safety impacts between the roundabout and Erowal retirement facility.

2.4. Traffic modelling is invalid because of queuing SIDRA traffic modelling is being applied invalidly when there is queuing in Bunya Street at the service station site at peak hour. Back up of traffic at the service station site, and at the Bunya/Cudgerie street intersection, is caused by queuing at peak hour in Bunya Street:

• in both directions from the school pedestrian crossing • behind cars and busses turning right towards the high school.

[See Section 9.3)

2.5. Traffic modelling is invalid because incorrect traffic speeds are generated SIDRA traffic modelling is invalid because the consultant’s traffic modelling generates average speeds that are well in excess of the legal speed lim it of 40 km /h in Bunya Street [see Appendix

!]■

2.6. New trip generation a t the service station may have been underestimated New trip generation has probably been underestimated because 10 hours of operation of the service station has been used instead of 24 hours stated elsewhere in the development application [see Section 8.2).

2.7. Right hand turns to the service station have been underestimated A 80 [right turn)/20 [left turn) split would be appropriate for turning traffic from Bunya Street, as the bulk of traffic using the service station at peak hour would be parents cars come from the Maleny CBD and travelling to the prim ary or high schools [see Section 8.3).

25 2.8. No road safety or risk assessment provided The consultant’s traffic impact assessment does not provide a risk assessment or a road safety assessment (see Section 8.5) and there has been no prelodgement consultation w ith the wider community to find ways of mitigating any such risks and any other adverse impacts. (See Section 8.5)

2.9. Council and applicants avoiding public consultation Any detrimental changes to traffic parking at the school are obviously of interest and concern to the education department, the school P&C, parents of school children and the Maleny community and various other stakeholders. Council has decided that the application w ill be classified as a 'code assessable’ development. As such, it is not subject to public notification or consultation. This means that the community, even if by chance individuals discover the existence of a development application, has little or no voice to highlight errors or concerns with the development application.

It is worth repeating Dr Philippa England’s observation;

'Recent changes in Queensland planning law continue to shift toward a more commercially orientated business-friendly planning framework that relegates accountability and public access to a minimum'.

(See Section 5)

3. The development application Synergy Property Partners Pty Ltd and Place Design Group Pty Ltd have jointly applied to the Sunshine Coast Council for approval for the development of a multi-use service centre located at 19-21 Bunya Street, Maleny.

The developer intends to provide several uses including a service station with four double-sided bowsers, and two food and drink outlets. It is proposed to provide customer entry via Bunya Street and exit via Cudgerie Street.

4. Previous public concerns about the impacts of a simitar proposal A similar development was proposed in 2012. Public outrage at the idea that a service station could safely operate next to the school, forced the applicants to withdraw their proposal before being formally considered by Council.

There is no reason to think that community opinion has changed since that time.

Maleny residents, and in particular parents of school children, look to Council to protect their interests when development applications are going to impact on the safe operations of the Primary school. Council should have encouraged public debate about the development application, given the clear message that was given by residents in 2012.

5. Public consultation Council has decided that the application w ill be classified as a ‘code assessable’ development. As such, the development application is not subject to public comment as Council is deemed to have predetermined that the development is compliant with all local planning.

That is, both Council and the applicant agreed, at a prelodgement meeting that there were no adverse impacts caused by locating the service station near the school in a congested section of Bunya Street. At that meeting Council was speaking for the residents of Maleny, unfortunately it had not been speaking to them. It is obvious that the impacts of removal of school bus parking

26 lanes and traffic movements in queuing traffic should have been considered in the development application. To ignore these impacts is negligent and unacceptable.

The applicant’s views, with regard to public consultation, can be found in their report ‘Town Planning Assessment for a Material Change of Use for a Service Station and Food and Drink Outlet’:

'Council confirmed that the application would trigger code assessment and would not require public notification.’ (Page 6), and

'We note that under the Planning Act 2016, code assessable development applications must be considered as a bound assessment. Therefore, the development must only consider the assessment benchmarks within the code assessable framework under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014.' (Page ii) and:

'... community opposition cannot affect Council's decision making fo r this proposal as the Planning Act 2016 bounds the assessment to the code assessable framework.' (Page 6)

So relevant factual public responses are to be rejected by Council as the applicant has classified it as ‘opposition’? Rather, public comment and advice should rightfully be seen as constructive input to the planning system.

As it happens, the development application has failed to address, or failed to have addressed adequately, issues to do with safe operation of the school and the safe and efficient flow of traffic in the vicinity of the school and the service station site. As such, it does not meet some of the assessment benchmarks within the code assessable framework under the Sunshine Coast Planning Scheme 2014. Council has ignored these transgressions. The planning system should not be used in this way to disadvantage local communities and give advantage to developers. It would be prudent for Council to consider the moral and ethical issues that are raised by this approach. It could be seen now or in the future as a failure of corporate governance.

Council has a current corporate plan that claims that it is an ‘organization that continually strives fo r excellence b y:... listening and responding to the needs and aspirations o f the community it serves’.

6. The state-controlled road network Bunya Street is a state-controlled road at Maleny State School and at the proposed service station site. The Department of Transport and Main Roads has an obligation, under the state planning system, to review the development application.

Assessable development adjacent to a state-controlled road is referred to the State Assessment and Referral Agency, which seeks technical advice from Transport and Main Roads on traffic implications of the development. Through this avenue. Transport and Main Roads may reject development applications when the development w ill result in a worsening of safety, infrastructure condition or operating performance (that is, efficiency] of Bunya Street.

The joint development applicants. Synergy Property Partnership Pty Ltd and Place Design Group Pty Ltd, have commissioned consultant firm Lambert and Rehbein to prepare a ‘Traffic Impact Assessment’ to satisfy, amongst other things, the requirements of both Transport and Main Roads, and of Council, that the development w ill not cause adverse impacts on road safety or efficient traffic flow.

27 6.1. Lack of prelodgement meeting with Council and Transport and Main Roads Transport and Main Roads suggest that a prelodgement meeting should be held with it and all stakeholders to resolve what issues should be addressed in the consultant's traffic impact assessment report, and what mitigating measures might be put in place (see ‘Guide to traffic Impact Assessment - Case Studies', Transport and Main Roads August 2017).

The order of events set out by Transport and Main Roads is that Synergy Property Partners/Place Design Group carries out a prelodgement meeting before a traffic impact assessment is submitted to Transport and Main Roads. The intention here is that feedback, from the public and Transport and Main Roads, is used to guide development of a traffic impact assessment that meets Transport and Main Road's requirements.

Impacts identified in this process would include;

■ Identification of the impact assessment area [see Section 8.1] ■ The safety impacts of reduced car and hus parking at the school ■ Safety of pedestrian movements past the service station entry [to and from the high school principally) and the delays this movement may cause to turning traffic ■ Increase in traffic delay with introduction of turning lanes at the service station, given that this stretch of Bunya Street can be heavily congested by queuing traffic [LOS F] at the pedestrian crossing Impact of new traffic generated by the service station on safety and traffic delay Transport and Main Roads desire to move the service station entry to the local road network - Cudgerie and Lawyer streets A rapid turnover of parked cars dropping off children Large-vehicle bus movements to and from the primary and high schools A high right-turn rate to the continuation of Bunya Street by high school traffic Swimming pool parking, which is also used as a drop-off point for school children High pedestrian movements by primary and high school students Groups of parents and children congregating on the footpath on both sides of Bunya Street

No prelodgement meeting has been held and the applicants have not addressed any of these issues in their traffic impact assessment.

6.2. Guidelines fo r preparation of traffic impact assessments Transport and Main Roads has recently published guidelines ['Guide to Traffic Impact Assessment’, Transport and Main Roads, September 2017] for preparation of traffic impact assessments for state-controlled roads [SCRs].

The purpose of the Guide is:

'The Guide is intended to be used by development proponents and traffic consultants in preparing a traffic impact assessment, as weii as departmental staff within Transport and Main Roads to assess a traffic impact assessment Its principles and strategies may also have application to local government' (Page 2, Section 4.2.)

The Guide states what constitutes an acceptable traffic impact assessment;

'Efficient and effective traffic impact assessment processes can ensure that development projects do not compromise the safety, efficiency, and infrastructure condition o f Queensland's SCRs fo r all users.' [Page2, Section 4.1)

There are conditions placed on whom can prepare a traffic impact assessment;

28 ‘Traffic impact assessments are undertaken by, o r under the direct supervision of, a registered Professional Engineer in Queensland in the same area o f engineering expertise as that o f the im pact ... being assessed.' [Page 20, Section 7.3]

The following sections look at how well the ‘Traffic Impact Assessment’, prepared by the applicant's traffic consultants Lambert and Rehbein, meets the Guide's requirements.

7. Road Safety

7.1. Consultant’s proposal to reduce parking To facilitate vehicular traffic entering the service station from Bunya Street, Lambert and Rehbein's Report contains the following figure [see Figure 2 below), which indicates lengths of car and bus parking that the applicants want to abolish to make way for service station traffic. W ith judicious scaling, it would seem that there is an 18m loss of car parking on the service station side of Bunya Street. Of more concern is the loss of some 64m of bus parking on the school side of Bunya Street. This is a loss of about two thirds of the bus parking on the school side of the Street [97m of bus parking reduced to 32m). There is a further 31m of bus parking zone on the opposite side of Bunya Street and opposite the school. The loss of bus parking, then, is half the total length of bus zone in Bunya Street, in the vicinity of the School. The extent of the reduction of bus parking is shown in Figure 1.

cm.tndr

r iU

"C

Figure 4: Proposed removal of Bunya Street parking

It would seem, then, that a significant redesign of parking, both for buses and parent’s cars, w ill be required in Bunya Street if the proposal is to go ahead and as the current lengths of bus zone parking are still necessary.

New bus parking on the opposite side of Bunya Street to the School provides no solution, as it would require a more circuitous bus route and an increase in use of the school pedestrian crossing with more traffic delay. With more children wanting to cross Bunya Street to the School, there would be an increased risk of child/vehicle accidents.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads has said [Page 3, ‘A Queensland Guide to School Road Safety');

29 'The safety o f students travelling to and from school is one of the most important issues fo r school communities... The traffic environment around schools is one o f the most complex traffic environments regularly encountered by children ... School road safety is a whole-of- community problem that requires whole-of-community awareness and commitment to addressing the issues. Improving the safety o f school travel is dependent on the involvement and commitment of road transport authorities, school communities, families, parent associations, educational authorities and police.'

Changes to car and bus parking at the school require full consultation with the community.

The applicant has not highlighted to Council the need for extensive modification to parking in Bunya Street to accommodate the service station, and the impact this might have on road safety and traffic delay. The consultant’s traffic impact assessment does not address these impacts.

7.2. Limited parking now available at the school The number of car parking spaces required at the school can be estimated from Transport and Main Roads publication ‘Planning for Safe Transport Infrastructure at Schools 2011’. The number of children in the school is 403 - Maleny State School website.

Type of parking Parking supply to be provided Number of spaces Short term (No Students in a prim ary school)/! 5 car parking 27 spaces Pickup/setdown 20% of short term parking 6 Long term 0.7 per staff member . 1 Preparatory and special 1 per 8-10 students 40 education Total 73 Note 1 Assumed to be provided by internal school parking.

Table 1: Car parking required adjacent to the prim ary school

Any reduction in on-street car parking is unacceptable, given that the current amount of car parking is currently far below the requirements set out above.

W ith regard to bus parking at the school, it can be assumed that the current length of ‘Bus Zone’ is the minimum necessary for safe transport of children. It reflects the balance the School, Council and Transport and Main Roads, have set between car and bus parking. Any loss o f school bus parking is unacceptable.

The consultant has offered no proposals to mitigate the impact of loss of car and bus parking at the school.

7.3. Car and bus parking and safety The applicant’s proposal assumes that two thirds of the existing bus parking zone, on the school side of Bunya Street, w ill be removed to make way for a right turn lane in Bunya Street to enable cars to turn into the service station without impeding through traffic.

Removal of parking at the school w ill have a direct impact on the safety of school children. The safety features of car and bus parking adjacent to schools is well summarised in the following extract from the Queensland governments rules for road safety (see www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules)

30 'Drop-off and pick-up areas help to make school zones safe because:

• children are dropped o ff and picked up close to the school's entrance (so they do not need to cross any roads) • they reduce traffic jams around the school (as parents and carers come and go faster than if they were to park and walk into the school grounds) • younger (non-school aged) children can stay in vehicles while their older siblings are dropped o ff and picked up—they do not need to walk, or be pushed or carried, to the school's entrance.'

These safety features also have relevance to provision of bus parking close to the school. Reducing bus parking or relocating buses to a more remote location directly impacts on road safety.

The consultants have not addressed these safety issues.

7.4. Service station turning lanes and safety There are a high number of pedestrian movements in this area at peak hour when children are moving to the prim ary and high schools. There are also pedestrian movements generated by the Blue Care Maleny Erowal aged care and retirem ent facility, and by the swimming pool.

Cars entering service site entrance w ill create new traffic/pedestrian conflicts. The ability of vehicles to enter the site w ill be constrained by pedestrian movements.

The consultants have not addressed any of these issues.

8. Traffic impact assessment

8.1. Im pact assessment area Transport and Main Roads’ ‘Guide to Traffic Impact Assessments' (PagelS] states th a t'... a boundary needs to be defined within which to assess a reasonable level of impact of this additional development traffic. This boundary is the impact assessment area.’

The traffic impact assessment area in the consultant’s report, by inference, includes only the area taken up by the Bunya/Cudgerle street intersection and Cudgerie Street.

It does not include the impacts of new turning traffic at the site entrance in Bunya Street where turning traffic is likely to impact adversely on traffic flows in Bunya Street and on road safety. There would be adverse impacts on traffic flow at other sites such as the school pedestrian crossing, the roundabout, turning traffic to the high school, and Landsborough-Maleny Road.

Given that at peak hour, queuing conditions (LOS F traffic flow conditions) can extend from the roundabout at the Obi Obi bridge to beyond the Blue Care Maleny Erowal aged care and retirement facility, it would be appropriate to define this length of road as the impact assessment area.

Figure 5 shows the extent of the area of assessment proposed. In contrast to this, the extent of the area of impact assessment used by the consultants can be seen as the small yellow rectangle next to the service station site.

31 Turning into the service station Is not in the consultant's assessment area and its impacts are not evaluated

Area of assessment adopted by the applicants: the Bunya/Cudgerle street intersection and Cudgerie Street

Proposed extent of area of assessment. This is the potential extent of queuing at peak hour

Figure S: Proposed area of assessment

8.2. New traffic generation by the service station New trip generation by the service station appears to be underestimated in the consultant's report

labte 4 4 Reduced Development Traffic Generation

J Ihesenunters i are 10 x

S«nnc»S(«»n m 14 • 14 m; m £ nul'.iples 0* :he ' » f ' r.cnbcrs ir :he ■ ' 6 h 2 ’ 3 To«S40frtiOoB«s m U f third coltnn. r J4i TOTAL % J5 \ 17 t 17 I ’ act the ncltiple t 1 1 » shocic Ix-24 ■*

Figure 4: Table from consultant’s traffic impact assessment report (p. 12)

This table seems to show the service station operates for 10 hours a day. The development application states that the service station w ill operate 24/7. The daily new trip generations then might become:

Service station 684 [assuming 28.5 vehicles per hour) Food and drink outlets 144 [assuming 6 vehicles per hour) Total new trips generated is 828 [a 240% increase)

A similar problem occurs in Table 4-2 of the traffic impact assessment.

32 8.3. Distribution of right and left turns at the service station At peak hour the distribution of traffic entering the service station is given as 30/70 N/S in Bunya Street by the consultants (Page 13 Figure 4.1: Proposed Development Traffic Volumes). This seems to be ignoring the fact that at peak hour the predominant traffic flows to both the prim ary and high school w ill be coming from central Maleny. If the service station becomes a centre for petrol discounting for one of the local supermarkets (Woolworths now? IGA in 2012) then it is even more than likely that traffic w ill be coming from the direction of the Maleny CBD.

The consultant is underestimating the right turns into the service station. A figure of 80/20 N/S would be more appropriate.

8.4. Who prepares a traffic impact assessment? A traffic impact assessment is prepared for the applicants (in this case Synergy Property Partners/Place Design Group) by a professional engineer (in this case provided by consultants Lambert & Rehbein) as defined under the Professional Engineers Act 2002.That is, it is undertaken by, or under the direct supervision of, a Registered Professional Engineer in Queensland in the same area of engineering expertise as that of the impact or infrastructure being assessed. The traffic assessment should be submitted to Transport and Main Roads for review, and then, following receipt of Transport and Main Road’s approval, to Council with the development application.

8.5. Need fo r a risk and road safety assessment Transport and Main Roads ‘Guide to Traffic Impact Assessment’ states (Page 35) that the development traffic impact assessment needs to identify traffic safety risks (such as those described in Sections 7.3 and 7.4 above) and then score them using the risk-scoring matrix in Figure 9.3.2(a) of the Guide.

It goes on to say that in addition to the risk assessment process, described above that:

'... any changes to access configurations, nearby intersections, bus stop locations, cycling facilities, footpaths and so on, once designed, should be assessed to identify i f they introduce any additional safety issues.'

A road safety assessment is required, based on the following criteria, which exist in Bunya Street at the site;

• Traffic volume (AADT) > 8000 • Speed - Up to 50 km /h (in a 40 km /h speed zone but queuing can bring speed down to zero) • Development type - Planning Act Development

The procedure to be used to determine the need for a road safety assessment is given on page 37 of the Guide:

'The level o f assessment required relates to the road environment the development is accessing and the scale o f the potential risk, based on the scale o f the development. Used together, tables 9.3.3(a) and 9.3.3(b) from the Guide, Page 37, define the level o f safety risk and the assessment required.'

33 Table 9.3.3(a): Road environment safety rating matrix (level of risk)

Traffic volume Speed (AADT) (km /h l Up to 50 km /h 60 km/h to 70 km/h 80 km/h+ <= 8000 Low Medium Medium >8000 Medium Medium High

Table 933(b): T)TJe of road safety assessment based on road environment safety rating

Development type Road environment safety rating Low Medium High Major Development Road safety assessment Road safety audit Road safety Planning Act Development Road safety assessment Road safety assessment Road safety

In this case, a road safety assessment is needed. Requirements for road safety assessments are contained in the Guide.

The traffic impact assessment prepared by the consultants Lambert and Rehbein, contains neither a risk assessment nor a road safety assessment.

9. Road Access and frontage

9.1. Transport and Main Roads aim is to minimise access to state controlled roads The issue for Transport and Main Roads is that 'Access to SCR (state-controlled roads) network should be minimised where safe and efficient alternative access points can be provided via the local government road network in order to preserve the traffic-carrying function of the SRC network.' (Page 40 Transport and Main Roads’ Guide to Traffic Safety Assessment)

The desired outcomes (Page 41 of the Guide) include the need to:

• Minimise impacts on the through carrying function of the SCR • Ensure new accesses to a SCR do not worsen the safety or efficiency of the SRC

Transport and Main Roads preferred outcome 'is fo r vehicular access to be obtained via the local road network. It w ill generally not support any application requesting direct vehicular access to higher-order SCRs where an alternative vehicular access to a local road network can be provided. If a new access is needed, the traffic impact assessment should justify what access movements are necessary to be provided while aiming to preserve the through traffic carrying function o f the SRC and minimise impacts at adjacent intersections.’

This would put the entrance to the service station in Cudgerie or Lawyer streets.

Right turning traffic from Bunya Street to the service station would be transferred to the Bunya/Cudgerie street intersection. But right turns there, if bus zones were to remain (an issue discussed in Section 7.3) would impede the movement of through traffic and would be impracticable.

Right turns to the service station would need to occur at the RSL end of Lawyer Street.

Moving the service station entrance to Cudgerie Street merely shifts an intractable traffic problem to the Bunya/Cudgerie street intersection.

34 9.2. Road access assessment ‘The traffic impact assessment fo r developments must therefore demonstrate that any associated vehicular access points to a SCR do not worsen the safety and efficiency o f the SCR.' (Page 42 Of the Guide - SCR State Controlled Road).

The development application contains a proposal for a new right turn lane in Bunya Street to allow traffic to enter directly to the service station.

The applicants should have developed details of the turn warrant assessment for the site so that they could define expected queue lengths and determine the length of any right turn lane. Geometrical requirements for the right turn lane would indicate how much of the bus zone would need to be abolished.

'A turn warrant assessment is typically applied to new T-Junctions and private access roads where the major road comprises two traffic lanes (one in each direction], to determine what type of access/driveway would be required.'

Transport and Main Roads ‘Guide to Traffic Assessment’ Page 43.

Once the geometry of a new right turn lane has been developed, the impact on traffic flows - queuing at peak hour at present - might be evaluated. Common sense would suggest that it can only make a bad situation worse.

The consultant has not evaluated the impact on traffic efficiency and safety of turning traffic at the service station site.

9.3. Intersection analysis The Guide (Page 43) suggests that SIDRA should be used for ‘access SIDRA Intersection is a computer intersectionsthat operate in isolation from adjacent software package that models intersections.' The operative phrase is highlighted. traffic intersections including light vehicles, heavy vehicles and SIDRA modelling is inappropriate at the Bunya/Cudgerie pedestrians. The purpose of the intersection as, at peak hour, it is not operating in isolation from software is to model various other traffic controlling features in Bunya Street. At these times, scenarios for both existing and queuing, from the school pedestrian crossing and the right turning future intersections to determine traffic to the high school, dominates traffic flow (LOS F conditions) their performance under a range at that intersection. of conditions. (‘Sidra Intemection Of course, what we are really interested in is the impact of turning Guideline - Version 1.0’ traffic to the service station on already congested flows in Bunya Gladstone Regional Council Street, as discussed above. The consultant's traffic impact 2010) assessment only looks at the relatively m inor effects of new trips generated (which seem to be underestimated - see Section 9.6) by the service station.

There are other problems w ith the SIDRA modelling which are discussed in Appendix 1 - Traffic modelling.

35 ^ppendix 1 Traffic Modelling

Modelling inconsistencies;

• Section 9.3, above, provides the major reason why SIDRA modelling is inappropriate for use in this traffic impact assessment - the intersection used for their analysis does not operate in isolation from adjacent intersections. In fact, queuing from the school pedestrian crossing at peak hour, and from right turning traffic towards the high school, determines traffic flows at the Bunya/Cudgerie streets intersection. • The base conditions of traffic queuing at peak hour are not reproduced in the modelling. At peak hour, the level of service in Bunya Street can he LOS F (extensive queuing). • Average speeds generated by the model are obviously too high - nearly 60 km /h or 150% of the legal speed in Bunya Street. The upper lim it to peak hour speed at the Bunya/Cudgerie streets intersection is set by the 40 km /h speed zone and, in reality, by the speed of queuing traffic. • The consultant’s traffic analysis does not look at the impact of turning traffic at the service station on traffic efficiency in Bunya Street. Analysis of traffic flows at the Bunya/Cudgerie streets intersection is not an adequate surrogate.

Obviously, the modelling is not producing sensible answers. Figure 6 shows a typical ‘Movement Summary’ table taken from their report [Appendix C - ‘SIDRA ANALYSIS RESULTS’). The Movement Summary in Figure 6 shows the results from SIDRA modelling o f‘existing traffic at AM peak hour with the service station in place’.

One would have expected better of the consultants Lambert & Rehbein. They claim that their firm ’s success is produced, amongst other things, ‘By applying attention to detail to everything that we do,...’. It is obvious that Lambert & Rehbein have applied little attention to detail in preparation of the traffic analysis for this development application. Obvious basic flaws have been overlooked. No mitigating measures have been proposed for the displacement of school busses and school car parking from Bunya Street. No discussion is presented about any of the other adverse impacts that might be caused by the proposal. Perhaps these matters were too difficult to address.

Council should ask Lambert & Rehbein to withdraw their traffic modelling analysis and the conclusions derived from the modelling, as they provide a false picture of traffic impacts near the school.

Figure 6, on the next page, illustrates some of the modelling issues discussed above. The consultant’s traffic impact assessment presents the results of SIDRA modelling in ‘Movement Summary’ tables, one of which is reproduced below.

36 MOVEMENT SUMMARY This is a movement summary for the Bunya Street- Cudgerie Street intersection. We actually want to V Site: 101 X2018 BG->gw _A M Peak - Existingl know what impact right and left turns at the ^■'-'Tryon Street/Newnham Road _ service station site would have, when traffic is ^•--Jjivewav! Yield rTwo-Way) I already congested, with extensive queuing.

HH / 95% Back of Queue Prop. Effective /average M Vehicles Distance Queued Stop Rate Speed B S u H l jjH H IH H r veh km/h South: Bunya Street (S) 1 L2 46 3.0 0,349 5.6 j LOS A 0,0 0.0 0.00 0.04 38-0 2 T1 604, , 7,0 . 0.349 0,0 f LOS A ,00 0-0, 0,00 0 04 58,4 Approach 650 6,7 0,349 0.4 ! NA 0.0 0,0 0,00 0.04 56-3 North; Bunya Street (N) 8 T1 545 5,0 0.370 1.4 LOS A 1.4 10,2 0,21 0.06 52.3 9 R2 51 0,0 0,370 12.1 LOSE 1,4 10,2 0.21 0.06 28,6 Approach 596 4,6 0.370 2.3 NA 1.4 10.2 0.21 0.06 49,6 West: Cudgerie Street (W) 10 L2 57 0.0 0.203 8.5 1 LOS A 0.6 4.0 0,67 0,86 12 R2 40 0,0 0,203 16.9 \ LOS C 0,6 4,0 0.67 0.86 Approach 87 0,0 0.203 12.0 \l o s B 0.6 4,0 0,67 0.86

All Vehicles 1343 5.3 0,370 2.1 \ NA 1.4 10,2 0.14 0.11

Actual level of service is category F (LOS Speeds of through traffic are all in F), when queuing in Bunya Street excess of the 40 km/h speed zone at extends from the school pedestrian the intersection,Left and right turn crossing past the Cudgerie Street speeds are in excess of what would be intersection. practicable under queuing traffic conditions (LOS F)

Figure 6: Modelling inconsistencies

The comments on the figure apply to all Movement Summary results in the traffic impact assessment.

37 Attachment C: Health risks Close proximity to a service station: What are the credible health risks to the Maleny State School population

We live in a time where we accept risk as a part of our daily lives. We climb into our cars regularly, regardless of the fact that we're far more likely to be killed by a car than a terrorist. Most of us accept that we live with air pollutants from a variety of sources beyond our control, such as car emissions, which affect human health. But we hope that the powers that be protect us by regulating to lim it their harm.

Now we have a proposal to put a service station on our primary school’s doorstep - 40 metres away from the closest classroom and a maximum of 60 metres away from other school facilities. Thousands of litres of flammable liquid in underground tanks, 8 bowsers, all with the potential for spillage, odour and fumes. And then there are the health impacts of exposure to fugitive emissions and increased traffic volumes. So how worried should we be?

Across the world and in Australia, there are very real documented health risks as well as fire and explosion risks associated with fuel outlets.

It w ill be said that the risks are relative, that is, if a service station is approved opposite the prim ary school, our risk level in Maleny is far less than that for a school in a similar situation in a city with higher volumes of traffic; or that the risk of fires and explosions is low. However, there is no known level of acceptable exposure to toxins like benzene. Moreover, fire and explosions at petrol stations are not as rare as most of us might think. The potential risk, so dose to a school, could be catastrophic.

Why create more risk when it could harm children? Surely this is an obvious case where the precautionary principle must be applied. There must be an alternative site for a petrol station. If Maleny needs another fuel outlet, find a site where children are not captive in a school, exposed to these toxins and the risk of fire or explosion for at least six hours every day for a total of 8,400 hours in their primary schooling life.

What are the health risks?

While some toxic elements of fuel have been removed over time, fuel still contains a variety of chemicals considered to be of grave concern for human health. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene have been unequivocally implicated.

W riting in The Conversation (April 6, 2011), QUT Associate Professor of Public Health, Adrian Barnet said ‘the body of evidence on the unhealthy effects of traffic pollution is now longer than a stretch limo’. He refers to recent studies, which have linked traffic pollution with reduced lung and cognitive function, and an increased risk of asthma, breast cancer, lung cancer, childhood leukaemia, heart disease, emergency hospital admissions and death.

There is incontrovertible evidence to show that due to their size, physiology and behaviour, children are more vulnerable to air borne hazards than adults.

Children are more heavily exposed to toxins in proportion to their body weight, and have more years of life ahead o f them in which they may suffer long-term effects from early exposure (https://www.vrb.orq/childrensenvironmentalhealthrisksandremedies/

The same source says that children of all ages, not just the very young, are at greater risk than adults.

38 Here, we have looked at the most common source of pollution from a service station - vapours. Having a service station across the road would generate more traffic, so the impacts o f traffic pollution are considered too.

Vapours

The development proponents say that the service station w ill employ Stage 1 & 2 Vapour Recovery technology to capture vapours. Stage 1 applies to tankers filling underground tanks. It is said to be 97% effective. Stage 2 applies to vapours, which escape from bowser hoses as cars are being filled. Stage 2 efficiency is rated at 85%. These estimates come from the NSW EPA Standards & Best Practice Guidelines fo r Vapour Recovery at Petrol Service Stations. The introduction o f Stage 1 and 2 Vapour Recovery has greatly reduced the volume of toxic vapours escaping. Because Stage 1 & 2 Vapour Recovery systems began to be used around 2010, the information presented here takes into account the ameliorating effect of this technology.

Should we be worried about the 3% not captured from tankers or the 15% of vapours escaping from bowsers as people fill their cars? The proponent says the largest tanker servicing this site would be a 44,000-litre B Double KW. The fugitive 15% from that tanker would be 1,320 litres of vapour. Another source of vapour is spills at the bowser. Liquid fuel spills and droplets are more likely to vaporise into the air than run into an underground drain. The seriousness of risks from these vapours is reflected in a 2015 American research project on the health of fuel station employees. It calculates and takes into account the impacts of fugitive vapours, spills and fuel droplets. https://linkspringer.eom/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs40572-015-0074-8.pdf

The adverse health impacts of benzene vapours are well documented. A research paperHuman Health Risk Due to Urban Petrol Stations presented at the 2016 International Conference of Urban Risks fhttps: / / www.researchgate.net/publication /3 0572142 21 offers alarming evidence that benzene has significant adverse health effects either through acute or prolonged exposure. Inhalation is the dominant path of benzene exposure in humans.

The research focussed on residents in Oporto Portugal, who lived close to service stations. The study showed that for those living within 50 metres of the vicinity of petrol stations, the leukaemia rate was 6 times higher than a 1998 population benchmark of 8-9 leukaemia cases per 100,00 inhabitants annually for the general population. The study acknowledged that in some of their study area vapour recovery technology could have reduced the incidence of leukaemia. However, that does not mean there is no risk.

In common with the majority of the literature reviewed, the study warned against complacency;

.... this is a carcinogenic pollutant, which means that no secure level can be defined fo r human health protection.

The Oporto study concludes that a safety buffer of 150 metres from a service station is required to avoid dangerous exposure.

Traffic pollution

Australia’s air quality conforms to international standards, but our pollution levels still cause significant health impacts. The societal costs of air pollution in Australia are on a par with smoking and obesity. Although not given the same publicity, deaths from air pollution exceed those from road deaths:

A ir pollution due to vehicle emissions is estimated to have caused 1,715 deaths in Australia in 2015, larger than the national road toll o f1,205 in 2015.

39 rhttps://www.nespurban.edu.au/publications-resources/research- reports/CAULRROb SubmissionFuel0ualityStandardsAct2000 Mar2017.pdfl

The findings from a 2017 University of California, Berkeley research project add another dimension to children’s vulnerability. Exposure to high levels of traffic-related air pollution appears to be a direct cause of the type of DN A damage known as telomere shortening;

The study adds to previous evidence that air pollution causes oxidative stress, which can damage lipids, proteins, and DNA. Research has suggested that children may have different telomere shortening regulation than adults, which might make them more vulnerable to the damaging effects o f air pollution.

A definition from https;//www.tasciences.com/what-is-a-telomere/ describes telomeres as;

... the caps at the end o f each strand o f DNA that protect our chromosomes, like the plastic tips at the end o f shoelaces. Without the coating, shoelaces become frayed until they can no longer do their job. Just as without telomeres, DNA strands become damaged and our cells can't do their job.

The dangers of idling

In recent years a major public health focus in traffic pollution is ‘idling’ - leaving engines running while stationary. Overseas there are now many countries and cities where there are anti-idling ordinances which restrict the idling of vehicles. London has taken this step. https;//idlingaction.london/idling-air-qualitv/

Exhaust from an idling car carries a higher load of the following pollutants than a moving car;

Particulate matter Dirt Nitrous oxides Hydrocarbons Carbon monoxide Carbon dioxide

Reducing unnecessary idling is a relatively easy way to improve air quality. There are moves afoot in urban areas of Australia to encourage parents not to leave their cars idling when dropping off and picking up their children in a school precinct.

Applying this argument to our own context, the proposal for a service station opposite the school includes putting the entry to the site on Bunya Street This will require traffic turning into the service station to wait, directly opposite the school, w ith their engines idling, for a gap in oncoming traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road, the high school section of Bunya Street and vehicles from the service station and Lawyer Street exiting Cudgerie Street towards the town.

This stretch o f road, through the school precinct, down to the roundabout beyond the Obi Bridge, is already heavily congested at peak times. Incoming traffic is often banked up to the Erowol retirement village on Landsborough-Maleny Road at peak times. The service station w ill attract more traffic to the school precinct area, resulting in queuing cars w ith their engines idling.

If, as is possible, given the proxim ity and business model of Woolworths, this is intended as a discount fiiel outlet, the problem of idling traffic w ill escalate significantly. W ith the service station on that site, traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road w ill also regularly slow to a

40 stop/start pace, generating more pollution from stationary vehicles. Of course, the generation of more passing traffic w ill also increase air pollution.

As with exposure to vapours from the service station site, increasing pollution in the school precinct is a choice decision-makers w ill make. They can choose between exercising a responsible level of risk management, and protect children by deciding that a school precinct is not a suitable place for a service station. Or they can ignore the risks and put the demands of commercial interests above the health of Maleny’s children.

Fire and explosions

It is not alarmist to raise the risks of fire and explosions in service stations. In September 2017 a service station fire at Drysdale, near Geelong destroyed tankers and sent shrapnel from exploding gas bottles into adjacent properties. fhttp://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09- 07 /drvsdale-fire-fuel-tankers

No one was injured, but the news footage shows billowing clouds of toxic smoke spreading over the neighbourhood.

A French study of service station fires examined the origins of 270 fires in services stations. Their research covered fires in France between 1958-2007 as well as 19 fires, which were particularly severe in other countries between 1970-2005. The following table shows the types of fires and the products involved:

Products Liquid LPG Gas Other Unknown Total fuels cartridges (oils accidents Waste) Release hazardous 199 12 5 21 3 237 materials Fires 20 3 5 6 27 60 Explosions 18 1 4 2 6 30 Others (near 2 1 0 0 4 7 accidents) Total accidents 202 13 5 21 32 270 https: / /www.aria.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/wp- content/files mf/Petrolstations accidents ian09.pdf

The researchers note that a percentage of accidents involved more than one product. The table shows that liquid fuels are by far the most prominent cause of accidents.

A second table shows the origins of the accidents. The most common are tanks and connected equipment (30.5% of accidents). Connecting pipes and fuel pumps/connected equipment account for 16.5% and 15% respectively. Other causes range from the static electricity generated by drivers and cars, tank fill units, water treatment equipment as well as delivery vehicles and customer vehicles.

Given that tanks and connected equipment rate as the most frequent cause of fire, it is a serious concern that the site plans for the proposed Bunya Street service station show their underground tanks situated on the frontage of Bunya Street, opposite the school.

The 2017 Drysdale fire mentioned above is not the only service station accident in Australia's recent history. A quick Google search brings up news-links w ith video footage of the following:

41 • An incident in 2017 in Glen Waverly, Victoria. A courier van driver backed into a bowser, which exploded. He was saved by the quick action of service station employees. • A major fire in Liverpool Sydney, in 2012. Fire services were on the spot very quickly and trained their hoses on the takeaway LPG gas bottle to keep them cool. The surrounding area was evacuated, including Aldi and KFC. The fire services spokesperson said that the quick response to the threat posed by the gas bottles averted a disaster. • In 2009, a rupture in a fuel tanker compartment started a service station fire in Maddington WA. The WA Department of Mines & Petroleum Resources Safety wrote in their Incident Investigation Report that a fireball 60 metres high and 20 metres wide. http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Documents/Dangerous Goods/DGS SafetyStats AR FuelTankerFireAtMaddington2009.pdf

If an accident like one of these occurred in the proposed Bunya Street service station, how long would it take for help to arrive? The speed of a fire and emergency response is a defining factor in containing service station fires to prevent a disaster. Maleny has a part-time auxiliary Fire & Emergency Service. The nearest constantly staffed Fire & Emergency Service is in Caloundra, half an hour’s drive away in good driving conditions.

Duty of care

Children are required by the State of Queensland to attend school for around six hours a day, five days a week. Parents entrust their children to the school system on the presumption that all levels of decision-makers will honour that trust by protecting children.

The argument that even a relatively low risk of fire and explosion in service stations is an acceptable risk is completely specious when applied to the safety of children. So too, is any suggestion that children will not be harmed by lengthy daily proximity to air pollution, both from the site and via increased road traffic. The evidence is incontrovertible.

W ith such a solid body of evidence, no service station should be within 150 metres of a school or other sensitive location. The only imperative to put a service station opposite the school is commercial interest.

The December 2017 editorial of the British medical journal Lancet had this to say in its call for a worldwide campaign to address the harm done to children by air pollution;

Children are destined to lead their early lives a t the mercy o f adult decisions. The lucky ones have carers who prioritise their needs and strive to protect them from harm, but even they are vulnerable to the effects o f decisions made by adults in positions ofpower.

The decision-makers for the current petrol station proposal must act in the spirit of theLancet's words and ensure that Maleny’s children’s safety and health should be unequivocally central in their decision-making.

42 Attachment D: Counter-arguments to compliance statements from Place Design Group 5.1.4 Local Plan

The purpose of the Maleny Local Plan is to provide locally relevant planning provisions for the assessment of development w ithin the Maleny Local Plan area. This is achieved through overall outcomes for the Local Plan area.

*See Place Design Group’s Table 8: Overall Outcomes sought for development in the Maleny Local Plan

Local Plan Area Overall Outcomes Compliance statement Counter arguments

(o) Complies (a): Counter [a): Maleny remains a moderate-sized rural town The use provides a convenience service to The compliance statement makes a highly subjective assumption. with a distinct heritage character, primarily both the immediate town as well as the Without consulting residents, it cannot be known whether they servicing the needs o f surrounding urban, rural tourism sector. The development design is in would regard a service station opposite their primary school as a residential and rural communities in the accordance w ith the distinct character and ‘convenience service’ they would welcome. southern Sunshine Coast Hinterland west o f the heritage of Maleny. The Maleny community’s outraged reaction to the 2012 proposal Blackall Range escarpment. for a service station opposite the same prim ary school and their reaction to this proposal, indicates this is a false assumption. There is already a fuel outlet in Maleny, and the possibility of another, with the Farm Barn and its bowsers on Macadamia Drive currently for sale. There is a BP service station at Landsborough, 16km away. Of necessity, Maleny is a car-oriented community. There would be very few residents (and daily commuters] who don’t drive to the coast on a regular basis for numerous reasons. They can compare prices and have a choice of fuel outlets beyond Maleny without any inconvenience. As for tourists, in an era when a 4-cylinder car’s fuel tank has a 45-60 litre capacity, giving cars a range of 450-500 km, it’s unlikely that many intending visitors currently bypass Maleny because it has only one fuel outlet. There are many other sites in the appropriate zone, which would (b) Urban and rural development within the Complies (b): Counter (b): Maleny Local Plan area is limited to land within The site is within the Urban Growth The site may conform w ith the Local Plan in its location, but it in the urban and rural development growth Management boundary and the development no way does this developmentprotect and reinforce the identity of management boundaries respectively so as to; includes land uses which is (sic) listed as Maleny. As the Place Design Group document states, the service > protect and reinforce the iden tity o f consistent for this zone and area. station/food outlet is proposed for an important corner site at the Maleny entry to Maleny. For incoming vehicles from Landsborough- > provide for the efficient provision of Maleny Road, it is in direct line of sight as the first indication of infrastructure and services. the town's character. No amount o f‘Queenslander’ touches, nor nods in the direction of'tropical landscaping' w ill conceal the glaringly obvious: that it is a petrol station, w ith ugly expanses of concrete, an array of bowsers and prominent garish signage. It stands in stark contrast to the rest of the vintage buildings, mostly occupied by professional services, on that side of the street The blank 2.5 m fence required to protect the adjoining property w ill also be a prominent eyesore to entering traffic. The proposed development conflicts with the recognisable old Queensland school frontage of the state school opposite. The development will do the opposite provideof fo r the efficient provision o f infrastructure and services. As but one of many examples, it proposes to take two-thirds of the primary school's bus parking on the school side of the road to construct a passing lane. With the few remaining bus stops across the street from the school, this would remove the safest embarking point for children and leave the school w ithout options for replacing the lost bus parking, which is essential student transport.

For further comments on impacts on infrastructure and services, see our responses to the TMR compliance statements. (Attachment B) ______

44 (c) Development retains the key built form, Complies[c): Counter [c): streetscape, landscape character and natural The development has been designed w ith Reflecting Maleny's 'unique heritage and character’ is not simply environment elements that contribute to the Maleny's unique heritage and character in a matter of including ‘Queenslander characteristics’. Indeed, in setting, character and identity o f Maleny as a mind, and subsequently includes many theories o f‘place’ this superficial and simplistic assumption is rural town with a strong sense o f place and Queenslander characteristics. critiqued as being the ‘commodification of place’ one that associations with the past generates standardised and inauthentic urban or rustic landscapes. Having a mock-Queenslander service station at the town’s entry would be even more inappropriate than installing the ‘Big Cow’ or the ‘Big Gumboot’. Entirely inconsistent with Maleny’s sense of place. The concept of ‘place’ is both physical and psychological. Physical form, activity and meaning are the mix that forms people's sense of place. Maleny’s identity is based on that mb(. It’s the connections residents make with each other, their common sense of identity and their attachment to what Maleny offers. A high proportion of people have come to live in Maleny for values- based reasons. It could be to bring their children up in a simpler, more authentic environment w ithout the stresses and pollution of urban life. Maleny is not a nostalgia trip town like Montville. With not a soul in the main street after the shops close at 5pm. Maleny is a vital community full of people from different backgrounds, but with similar attachments to environmental sustainability and clean, green living. In commercial terms, that is Maleny’s (very successful) brand. It is what brings tourists here. However it is camouflaged, a service station as a first impression of the town is totally unacceptable, indeed grotesque, for aesthetic and commercial-brand reasons.

45 {dj Development provides fo r the retail and Complies[d): Counter (d): commercial functions o f Maleny Town Centre to The development provides the township with There is nothing about this development that is ‘a natural expand and be enhanced. Development in the both retail and commercial functions that progression/expansion' of Maleny’s urban development. On the District Centre zone supports the role and w ill service the local community and tourism Cudgerie Street side it is opposite a large organic products retail function of sectors. The site is zoned for uses such as outlet. these, and therefore the At the rear of the site. Lawyer street is a small ‘low-impact’ development of this site is a natural industrial zone, w ith businesses such as a landscape supplier, progression/expansion of urban cabinetmakers, mower shop and various small repair shops. Just development, while still allowing the unique 40 metres directly opposite the development is the Maleny town centre to remain compact. prim ary school w ith 400 pre-schoolers and prim ary students. The same side of Bunya Street beyond the site towards town is occupied by professional services based in old Queenslander houses. Two dentists, an optometrist, new residential units, an accountant, speech therapist and lawyer’s office and a couple of private residences are also located here. To site a service station w ith all its attendant risks amongst these otherwise benign functions is not a ‘natural progression/expansion’ it is an incongruous and unacceptable intrusion.

(k) Complies (k): Counter [k): Development in the local plan area is supported The development will introduce traditional The key issue here is that the service station/food outlet by a network o f interconnected open space to kerb and channel for both frontages as well development would incorporate an 11m entry driveway on the meet the needs o f the local community and as pedestrian footpaths for the full frontage. state-controlled Bunya Street and a 7-metre exit driveway on facilitates safe and convenient pedestrian and Cudgerie Street cycle connections between and around key Both Bunya and Cudgerie Streets are on the main pedestrian destinations and facilities within the local plan route for both primary and high school students. At peak hours area. between 8 -9.30 am and 2.30 - 4 pm, this route is taken by constant streams of children. The proposed 11m Bunya Street entry is opposite the prim ary school. It would present a serious hazard to pedestrians, as traffic turning into the service station must run the gauntlet of Incoming traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road, the upper section of Bunya Street and turning traffic from Cudgerie St. With their attention occupied by oncoming traffic, motorists turning into the site w ill not have their full attention on children crossing the 11m driveway on the footpath. In addition, an abrupt stop by a car at the verge of the entry driveway in order to avoid pedestrians would leave the car ______46 obstructing the incoming lane of Bunya, thus causing a traffic hazard as well. A similar scenario would occur in Cudgerie, which is on the route to the high school, in the upper section of Bunya. As well as being the proposed exit for the service station site, Cudgerie is a 2-way street servicing the businesses in Lawyer St at the rear of the development. These all provide services to the public, so attract traffic. The proposed 7 metre exit driveway is approx. 30 metres from the Cudgerie Street intersection with the state-controlled part of Bunya St Again, turning, non-service station traffic w ill run the gauntlet of oncoming traffic from Landsborough-Maleny Road and the upper section of Bunya, which joins the state-controlled section of Bunya in a Y intersection, 40 m from the Cudgerie Street intersection with the state-controlled section of Bunya. Turning traffic into Cudgerie, most likely accelerating to cross oncoming traffic, w ill have a dangerously short reaction time to avoid the crowds of high school pedestrians and traffic exiting the service station, situated just 30 m from the intersection. See our Google image of the 340 m long stretch impacted by the proposed development. (See Attachment B Google image).

(m) Development provides fo r required Complies (m): Counter (m): improvements to the local road network Upgrades to Cudgerie Street w ill not be Cudgerie St has a total length of 64 m. It intersects w ith Lawyer including new road links to improve local prejudiced by the proposed development. St at the rear of the proposed site in a T-junction. Its constrained connectivity and intersection upgrades. length and width make it entirely unsuitable for a service station exit point, particularly as the proposed exit is a mere 30 m from the state-controlled Bunya St intersection. The development proposes 2 m setbacks on both Cudgerie and Lawyer Streets which would preclude widening Cudgerie if/w hen it became a bypass over the Obi Creek. Inevitably these constraints would impact on future connectivity links, such as the bypass across the Obi Creek via Cudgerie being considered.

47 Our view is contrary to that stated in the Place Design Group's Report. There are serious flaws in the proposed development on the Bunya Street site that should preclude its approval on the following grounds;

• Causes clear safety concerns for prim ary and high school pedestrians in a constrained and already congested area. • Bunya Street is the access to Maleny from Landsborough-Maleny Road. It has already exceeded its capacity. It was designed and constructed at a time when Maleny was a village (1976 population 415 residents). The population is now over 5,000. Unacceptable traffic volumes and disruption to an already congested 340 m stretch of road. From the roundabout at the bottom of the main street, (Maple St) to incoming and outgoing traffic onto Landsborough-Maleny Road. See our Google image (Attachment B). • Inappropriate use and design for this site, which is a highly visible entry point to Maleny.

For further detail please see our Review of proponent’s Traffic Report and Google image of 340-metre stretch of Bunya St impacted .

Our counter-arguments to compliance statements from Place Design Group

Table 7: District Centre Zone

Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone

(a) district activity centres are developed Complies(a): Counter (a): as vibrant, mixed use places The development includes multiple uses being a There is currently one fuel outlet in Maleny, w ith another on Macadamia service station and two (2) food and drink outlets, Drive currently not operating, as it is on the market. As has been which will provide for a variety of retail experiences established by the Maleny community’s outrage at a similar 2012 at the site and encourage active uses in the area proposal, a service station opposite the Maleny primary school - with all beyond the standard '9 to 5’ business hours. As its attendant health and safety risks - will not be seen by residents as ‘a there is currently only one small service station in positive contribution’. the town, this development will positively On a hierarchy of need, cheaper petrol is at the bottom of the scale by contribute to the community by providing a local comparison with children’s health and safety. service (i.e. the service station) to local residents The ‘variety of retail experiences’ offered by the proposed development and tourists, as well as increasing the town’s can be found at most service stations across the country. In such a offering of boutique food and drink outlets at the prominent ‘showcase’ location, they detract, rather than add to Maleny’s entry to town. reputation for artisan/authentic experiences beyond the humdrum of mass production and 'same old same old.’ With a vibrant main street scene like Maleny’s offering a wide choice of trendy, attractive food outlets, it is unlikely that either adult residents or tourists will seek out the ‘boutique experience’ of lingering in a service station cafe, breathing in the toxic vapours and smells which come free of charge. More concerning, is the proposed 24-hour opening hours. We see the choice of the site, in close proxim ity to schools, as a deliberate 48 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone strategy to attract young people with junk food outlets. We note that since the Qld government’s 2016-17 changes to planning laws, several fuel/food developments close to schools have appeared on the Sunshine Coast. This opportunism is fostered by easier access to ‘code assessable' development. At a time when there is huge national concern about the links between childhood obesity and junk food. Also at a time when Qld school tuckshops have banned unhealthy food. Our final concern is that the 24/7 regime will attract, as it does in other places, ‘hoons’ and anti-social behaviour such as vandalism at the school opposite. This is an issue as the area around the site, including the school precinct, is deserted at night It would be a most unwelcome development in Maleny, which does not have a significant problem with anti-social behaviour at present.

Development Form Overall Outcomes Complies (b); Counter [b): (b) development provides fo r a range of The development includes business uses consistent This range of retail activities will not service thedistrict level convenience retail business activities that service the for this zone. The food and drink outlets w ill be needs of surrounding areas. It will severely reduce convenience for the district level convenience needs o f located on the south-eastern corner of the site to following reasons: surrounding areas encourage street activation and increase pedestrian The proposed development is in a location that is dominated by the traffic safety. The retailers w ill be relatively small in scale and activity generated by the school. It is a highly congested area in order to integrate appropriately with the existing between 8-9.30 am and 2.30-4.00 pm. It is an entirely inappropriate township and the expectations the community hold location for a development of this type. for the area. As the site is at a key entry point to the It is in no way consistent with the community's expectation for this town from the coast, it w ill also appropriately serve location. In fact, given the outrage over the last service station proposal, tourists. Maleny's expectation is that Council would protect its schools from future service station developments.

(C) In addition to retail business Complies [C): Counter (C): activities, development provides for a mix The development includes a service station and two This particular mix of uses is entirely inappropriate for this location. It of other business activities, including food and drink outlet tenancies, therefore providing has the potential to attract continuous high volumes o f traffic to an area food and drink outlets, health care a mix of uses w ithin the area to promote a mixed- which already has traffic problems, due to the school w ith 400 students, services, offices and an appropriate range use environment. its pedestrian crossing, a road designed for a previous era and the of community activities and support complexities of intersecting streets. As well as a total of 16 entries/exits services that promote an active mixed- along both sides of Bunya Street towards town from the site. The use environment. businesses all generate customer traffic and include professional services, such as health care, accountants, speech therapists, solicitors, mower 49 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone shop, Woolworths, the hotel/drive in bottle shop and the Bowls Club. (See Attachment B).

(e) Development fo r business activities is o f Complies [e]: Counter (e): a scale and intensity that s consistent with The service station is relatively small and provides We argue that the ‘scale and intensity' of this development is inconsistent the intended role and function o f the 8 fuel bowsers. The total gross floor area dedicated with the intended role and function of the particular activity centre .... It particular activity centre, as specified in to food and drink outlet tenancies is limited to undermines the role and function of surrounding higher order activity the Sunshine Coast activity centre network IZOm^total. centres, namely the prim ary school and 12 traffic-generating businesses 3 and the applicable local plan code and The development is of a scale that is in line with in the immediate vicinity. We argue that 8 fuel bowsers, with refuelling does not undermine the role and function community expectations for the growth of Maleny, taking around 5 minutes, generates the potential for approx. 100 vehicles of higher order activity centres. an hour using Bunya/Cudgerie Streets to enter/exit the development. Additional traffic to the food outlets must also be taken into account. As this would seriously exacerbate an already congested area, it is unlikely the development would be in line w ith Maleny community expectations of growth in this particular location.

[g) Development provides fo r an efficient Complies (g): Counter (g): pattern of land use, where the greatest mix The proposed use is consistent with the zone and On paper, the proposed use may be consistent with the zone and local of uses and highest intensity of local plan intent and provides an appropriate plan intent. However, we suggest that is more a matter of short-sighted development is located in areas with natural extension of commercial activity within the planning decisions than intent. There are many sites in the same zone in relatively high levels o f access to public Centre Zone. The development will provide Maleny which would accommodate a service station without generating transport facilities and all development connections to all relevant transport networks and the significant road safety, congestion and health risks for pedestrians, has a clear connection to pedestrian, urban services. motorists and schoolchildren. bicycle, public transport and road Maleny does not have public transport, except for a small-bus service that transport networks and infrastructure. cannot be regarded as significant public access transport, either in its destinations nor its limited timetable. As we have demonstrated in earlier arguments, the proposed development would have a seriously negative impact on pedestrians and cyclists. (See Attachment B).

(h] Wherever practicable, business Complies (h): Counter (h): activities and community activities are co­ The proposed uses are consistent in the District Co-location of this development would seriously detract fromsafety, located and designed to contribute to Centre Zone. A service station located in this security and vitality. A service station in this location is particularly safety, security and the vitality o f the particular location is particularly appropriate as it is inappropriate as it is sited between 40 to 60 metres across the road from centre. within the appropriate zone and adjoins the low the Maleny prim ary school. In this case, co-location and design actively impact industry estate in Lawyer Street. reduces the safety and security of the area due to its disruption of the 50 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone main activities - school and businesses - in this locality. On two counts it is incongruous to align the service station with the low impact industry in Lawyer Street. [1] an influx of heavy vehicles ranging from large trucks to vans from Lawyer Street is not a desirable outcome either within the very constrained space of the service station or on the already congested roads bounded by the site. [2) A service station in a location close to a school cannot be regarded as ‘low impact’ when there is incontrovertible evidence that even small amounts of deadly vapours, such as benzene, pose serious, life- threatening health risks, particularly to children of all ages. Particularly when they are in constant close proximity. In addition, the development would slow traffic to a standstill, with entering cars required to cross against oncoming traffic. Idling cars are the most egregious form of pollution for children. To the extent that many countries and cities overseas have regulated against idling traffic. See Attachment C for further detail on health risks. (See Attachment B image of traffic problems.]

(i) Development incorporates a high Complies (i): Counter [i]: standard o f urban and landscape design The design has been specifically created for the We reiterate that this ‘key corner site on entry into Maleny’ is not the that creates attractive and functional Maleny environment, including Queenslander place for such a conspicuously ‘un-Maleny’ enterprise as a modern service buildings, streets and places. characteristics, and appropriate landscaping in station, complete w ith expanses of concrete, bowsers, intrusive signage order to create an attractive and functional and the kind of takeaway style food outlets (whatever they’re called) seen development on a key corner site on entry into all over Australia. The addition of Queenslander motifs or landscaping is Maleny. insufficient camouflage.

This would be the first impression of a town that presents itself as an alternative to the banality, blandness and conformity of urban landscapes. This is not a leftover of Maleny’s 1970s hippie influence, but the identity its inhabitants have built and its brand, in the same way Tasmania promotes itself as ‘clean and green’. The development w ill not succeed in creating ‘attractive and functional buildings, streets and places’.

The site is unsuitable for a service station/food outlet; * Its presence would exacerbate existing congestion______51 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone Any architectural merit would be overshadowed by the array of bowsers, the ‘car park’ effect created by the site activities and intrusive signage advertising fuel brand, fuel prices and food outlets As an unavoidable visual focus at the entry to the town, it would present a plethora of jarring inconsistencies with the Maleny brand.

Q) Development contributes to the Complies 0): Counter (j): creation o f an active, safe and legible The development allows for activation of the site by The site is not a shop or a show room. The vacant corner allotment is public realm, incorporating public open proposing extended hours of operation and high used by the Lawyer Street landscape supplier as an open-air display area spaces including civic plazas and turnover uses (i.e. cafes) at a site that is currently for pavers, lattice panels etc. The adjoining property included in the forecourts where appropriate. used as a shop/showroom for sales of blinds and development is an old residence. screens. The development would not contribute to a ‘safe and legible public realm' as it is isolated (360 m) from the main activity area of Maleny, Maple Street. The development’s nearest/only neighbour in Cudgerie Street is an organic products store (40 m away) closed at 5 pm. An electricity sub-station is 54m away. Opposite is the prim ary school. On the school side, 200 m away, there is the Maleny Hotel, which closes at 10 pm. The other properties on that stretch of Bunya Street are businesses, all closing at 5 pm and a few private residences. (See Attachment B Google image)

Both safety and legibility are of concern, as for all the reasons canvassed earlier, the development would have a disruptive effect in the school precinct, creating traffic problems, posing clear safety risks for pedestrians thus ‘scrambling’ the legibility of what is primarily a location dominated by school activities.

The legibility of the site is also a clear concern at night. Its 24/7 operation is completely out of context for Maleny, its lighting will be intrusive and the food outlets may well attract groups of teenagers to the kind of aimless 'hanging about in packs’ which carries the risk of vandalism o f the school/surrounding businesses and other forms of anti­ social behaviour.

52 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone

Complies (k): Counter [k): (k) Development is sited and designed to The more active uses, being the two food and drink In an earlier statement the proponent states that the food and drink maximise activity along the primary active outlets have been located at the edge of the site outlets are ‘on the south-east corner o f the site'. The plan drawings of the street frontages, with buildings [Cudgerie St frontage) to encourage street development show these outlets on south-westthe boundary, backing maintaining a human scale at street level. activation, increase pedestrian traffic and allow for onto Lawyer Street with no obvious access /line of sight on that street casual surveillance to and from the site which has low-impact industrial businesses. The small section of the food outlet buildings on Cudgerie Street look out into the vacant land behind the organic products store, which is the only other building in Cudgerie. The largest part of the food outlets looks out into the concreted forecourt, where cars are refuelling. Neither Cudgerie nor Lawyer Streets are the ‘prim ary’ or ‘active’ street frontage. In fact, they are singularly inactive, as streetscapes go. The prim ary street frontage is Bunya, which is taken up w ith car parking, canopy and bowsers, which, with the 11m driveway interrupting pedestrian flow, and lofty canopy is arguably anything but human scale.

(m) Development ensures that there is no Complies [m): Counter [m): unreasonable loss o f amenity fo r The attached air quality and acoustic assessments There is an extensive rangeof loss o f amenity attached to this proposed surrounding premises, having regard to demonstrate the proposed development and its development. matters such as noise, lighting, waste, related operations are consistent with relevant Foremost is the location of the school only 40 m to fumes, odours, overlooking and public criteria. health and safety, having regard to the mixed-use nature o f the zone. Therefore, it is unlikely that there w ill be a negative 60 m from the service station; impact on the amenity of the surrounding premises. • It is well known that benzene fumes from service stations are carcinogenic. • There is no secure level that can be defined as safe for human health. • The recommended buffer between a service station and residences is 150 metres.

The proposed Stage 1 and 2 Vapour Recovery systems for the development are 97% and 85% effective respectively. The relatively small percentage of fugitive vapours is still seen as dangerous by researchers. Particularly w ith regular exposure. The development would escalate pollution, both through increased traffic 53 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone volume and queuing idling cars. Idling vehicles produce more intensity and volume of pollutants than moving vehicles. Overseas, countries and cities have made idling illegal. From gestation in the womh onwards, children are known to be more vulnerable than adults to air pollution. There is insufficient room to cover the risks associated w ith fire and explosion. It is not alarmist to raise this question, as human error, underground tanks, faulty equipment, build-up of vapours and on-road collisions with fuel tankers are all risks factors. Of particular concern is the proposal to situate underground fuel tanks on the Bunya St frontage, 40 m away from the school. A French study of fuel outlet fires placed underground tanks as the most frequent cause (30.5%) of fires. Children's safety and health is a serious risk management issue for Sunshine Coast Regional Council.

To illustrate the reality of exposure to fumes and smells, the anecdote of someone living w ithin 60 m of a service station elsewhere comes to mind. The smell and fumes overpower them when they open windows facing towards the fuel outlet. There is a dentist next door to this proposed Bunya Street development. Who would want to sit in the chair, mouth open, breathing in odours and noxious fumes? The night lighting of this development would pose an unacceptable intrusion for those living in residences diagonally opposite the service station and in the residential areas along the upper section of Bunya Street and along the hillside situated diagonally to the south west of the development in the vicinity of Tallowwood St. We have covered the traffic congestion and safety dimensions o f this proposed development in earlier responses.

For a detailed analysis of the traffic and safety issues see Attachment B.

{p) Development encourages public Complies [p]: Counter (p) (r): transport accessibility and use and The site is connected to all urban services and Maleny is a car-oriented community, with one very limited bus service for provides fo r pedestrian, cycle and infrastructure. residents. Because of its limitations it is not well patronised and there is vehicular movement networks that the possibility it will not survive. maximise connectivity, permeability and ease o f movement within the activity Complies [r): However, the Maleny primary school depends upon around 10 large centre. The site is connected to all urban services and buses to transport students to and from school. This development 54 Overall outcomes for District Centre Compliance statement by developer Counter arguments Zone infrastructure. proposal intends to take two-thirds of the school bus parking on the school side of Bunya Street to construct a passing lane for cars avoiding (r] Development is located and designed to queuing traffic waiting to enter the service station from Bunya Street. maximise the efficient extension and safe This deprives students of the safest bus embarking point. There is no operation o f infrastructure. alternative space for school buses on either side of Bunya St. It seems extraordinary that a state school's bus parking could be purloined by a private developer in this fashion. If that does happen, it could result in roughly another 200 cars arriving at the school morning and afternoon to pick up children. Car parking spaces are minimal around the school. The loss of bus parking, together w ith increased traffic volumes and associated gridlock means that this development would achieve the opposite effect of (p) and (r).

See our attached review of the proponents’ Traffic Impact Assessment Report (Attachment B).

(s) Development does not adversely impact Complies(s): Counter (s); on the continued operation, viability and The site is connected to all urban services and Cudgerie Street is only 64 metres long. The service station’s 7 m wide maintenance o f existing infrastructure or infrastructure. Future planned road upgrade on exit is approx. 30 m away from the Bunya Street intersection and on the compromise the future provision o f Cudgerie Street w ill not be compromised by the Lawyer Street and Cudgerie boundaries; the development proposes a 2 m planned infrastructure. development. setback. If Council’s proposed bypass involved widening Cudgerie St the narrow setbacks and driveway in such close proxim ity to the Bunya St intersection may impede those plans. (See Attachment B Google image).

55