Residents are concerned at plans for a 47 place child care centre in Vivienne Street, Kingsgrove which was the scene of a fatality in 2012 when a five-year-old boy was hit by a car on his way to school.
The residents said the death had deeply affected their community, predicting “severe pedestrian and vehicle conflict” if the plan goes ahead.
Last month’s meeting of the Georges River Local Planning Panel took their concerns onboard, deferring their decision and calling for a new traffic management study.
The $730,000 DA by Futuristic Design Pty Ltd is for a two-storey child care centre on the corner of Kingsgrove Road and Vivienne Street, Kingsgrove which would accommodate up to 47 children aged 0 to five-years-of-age and to operate 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday.
Residents said the intersection of Vivienne Street and Kingsgrove Road was subject to “traffic mayhem” during school hours.
Kingsgrove Public and Kingsgrove High School are located approximately 300-metres to the south of the site.
In total, the council received 48 objections to the plan.
The site is zoned R2 Low Density Residential and a child care centres are a permitted use under the zoning.
But the applicant is seeking variations to the maximum number of children (the zoning allows for 40 children) and the height ( the zoning allows for one storey).
Residents raised concerns at the number of child care places proposed exceeding the maximum allowable number.
There were concerns over the impact of traffic, parking, vehicle safety, noise and the impact of the built form.
But the report by council staff recommended the increase number of child care places to be supported “as the proposal while not numerically compliant meets the objectives of the control (Hurstville Development Control Plan).”
The council report said while it is two-storeys the build would be 7.8m and not exceed the 9m height limit for the zone. In addition, the second storey will free up space for play areas on the site.
The council’s report acknowledged that development would result in additional traffic but the application exceeds the minimum parking for staff and clients of the child care centre.
The application had a Traffic and Parking Assessment prepared by Grey Australia Consultants which concludes that the potential increase in the number of cars in and about Vivienne Street and Kingsgrove Road will “remain well win the environmental capacity of these streets, with no adverse impacts to the amenity of the area”.
This view was supported by the council’s traffic engineer.
In addition, no concerns were raised by the council’s traffic engineer over the impact on pedestrian movement, particularly school children as the peak drop-off and pick-up times for the centre will not coincide with those of school times.
Residents labelled this claim as a fallacy in their submission to the panel.
“Of course the times coincide,” said one resident who did not want to be named, adding that the Local Planning Panel had only visited the site during school holidays.
“The panel’s site visit to Vivienne Street should be when school is in and then you can appreciate the traffic mayhem that already exists on that corner and on Kingsgrove Road.
“The death of a five-year-old boy, hit by a car on his way to school as he attempted to cross Vivienne Street with his mother was a tragedy that happened on our corner and devastated a family and deeply affected our local community,” the residents’ submission said.
The council report acknowledged there has been a fatality in this location. “In this regard, the development has been designed to address any conflicts between pedestrian and vehicle movements by located the access driveway as far as practical from the Vivienne and Kingsgrove Road intersection to facilitate adequate sightlines,” the report stated
The residents said that to assert in the report that the DA has addressed this by moving the driveway further down the street was irrational.
“There was no driveway present at the time of the fatality, and the introduction of one further away from the corne doesn’t mitigate the chances of a another fatality,” they said in their submission.
“The corner of Vivienne Street and Kingsgrove Road has to be one of the busiest in the area and there have been numerous accidents over the years, some minor, major and a fatality.”
Residents also criticised the council report that Vivienne Street was of an adequate width for traffic to access the centre.
“Vivienne Street is currently unable to facilitate two-way traffic. Cars have to move to one side everyday to allow a thoroughfare,” the residents said.
The requirement is for eight car parking spaces. The applicant has proposed 15 allowing for future growth. Residents were concerned that the developer had future plans to expand the centre.
Staff recommended approval.
But the panel deferred a decision and called for more information.
In a unanimous decision, the panel found the documentation was inadequate in relation to aspects of traffic conflict and site management and called for additional information to be provided.
This included a plan of management for an overall operation of the centre, an amended traffic report that considers traffic conflicts in Vivienne Street and Kingsgrove Road during peak school hours and drop-off and pick-up times of the proposed child care centre.
In particular the amended traffic report should consider additional traffic and parking signage within Vivienne Street to minimize traffic conflict in that street and Kingsgrove Road.
