PlanningAlerts

5 Comments

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1. There is no need for another Early learning centre in the area.
   Centres are still trying to recuperate after 2020, another centre is not needed.
   What is needed is a pay rise for educators and teachers in the early childhood profession so they can provide quality early childhood educators that are qualified, rather than running on a minimum qualifications with large centres of this size.

2. As the owner of a childcare centre in Popes rd, woonona which is a very short distance from this area, I am disappointed as the area is already saturated with child care centre that have vacancies, how can you justify opening a 117 place childcare centre when businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and so many are in that area it doesn’t make sense

3. This application is totally inappropriate for the area. The Woonona medical centre is very busy all the time. There are other businesses in the centre including, pathology, radiology, physio and visiting specialists. Parking is at a premium at any time and to
   have limited parking for patients with disabilities is terrible.
   We strongly oppose the DA.

4. As an owner of an existing and established childcare centre in the area I feel that a centre of this size and so close in location isn’t necessary and will have a major impact on all of the existing centres in the area that have spent many years of hard work building their reputations and maintaining positive relationships with all of the families new and old in woonona and surrounding suburbs.

5. DA 2021/286

   To whom it may concern,
   Being a long term resident and ratepayer of Woonona I am strongly opposed DA 2021/286. I have had a strong involvement in the community over many years, including serving as the President of the Woonona Chamber of Commerce 1993-2002, the Group Leader of 1st Bulli Scout Group 2001-2010 and operating the Woonona Newsagency 1993-2014.
   Already Hopetoun Street is stressed with full kerbside parking day and night as a result of both increased car ownership per household and single dwellings being converted into either dual or multi occupancy developments. When originally planned, Hopetoun St contained 46 units of land, as per the table below this usage has grown considerably in the intervening decades.
   Street House Villa Unit Total
   Hopetoun 32 77 109
   Forrest 11 11
   Pittam Ln 2 16 18
   Total Dwellings 138
   
   Fernwood Fitness also adds to the parking demand as it has no off-street parking of its own. The feedback I have received from residents over many years is that Hopetoun Street is difficult to navigate due to cars being consistently parked on both sides of the street.
   The existing 56 car spaces on the proposed development site provided by the Woonona Medical Practice are consistently fully utilised by the 6 businesses operating out of those premises. A considered observation of the parking requirements would suggest that there is a need to vastly increase the capacity of the present requirements.
   Traffic is also a major concern. While the Development Application has made use of a Traffic Report, this report was undertaken in November of 2020 and the application does not seem to have taken the impact of COVID-19 into account. With many businesses not working at full capacity, many would-be customers limiting their time out of their homes and many employees working remotely, it seems likely that the Traffic Report is not a representative sample of the full utilisation of the street.

   1st Bulli Scout Group
   The Scout Group Headquarters has occupied the present site since 1958 and during that time has had agreements with previous owners of the proposed development site to use the car park after hours and during the weekends. This has provided a safe area for members to be dropped off and collected from meetings and camps. Originally the land was owned by the Woonona-Bulli Soccer Club, then the Illawarra Retirement Trust and in recent times the Woonona Medical Practice. The Scout Group was established in 1940 and at present has over 100 active members.
   In 2006 the Council approved a boat-shed addition to the Scout Hall, with this having an opening to the car park. The Illawarra Retirement Trust owned the land at the time and had no objection to its construction and acknowledged the long relationship that the Scout Group had in using this site.
   The Scout Group also has an entrance on Pitman Lane, which over the years has had a 16 Unit Complex and 2 Villa apartments built. The lane itself is narrow and only suitable for traffic in one direction at a time. It has long been the Scout Group’s policy to limit the use of the laneway in order to be considerate of the neighbours after there had been incidents of congestion.
   If this development were to proceed in its present form it would greatly impede member’s access to the Scout grounds and could result in loss of membership. I believe that this would constitute a significant loss to the community and its youth, and I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss ways in which this could proceed without a detrimental impact to the Scout Group.

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