Minutes for meeting of 4th March 2015
OURIMBAH REGION RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Covering postcode 2258 – Fountaindale; Palmdale; Palm Grove; Ourimbah
All correspondence to The Secretary, P.O.. Box 71, Ourimbah 2258
Tel: 0439 437 767 or 0408 414 552 / 4362 9174
Meeting opened: 7.33pm
Present: 30 ….
DW; AR & BR; G & SMc; JC; GD; WK; KV; W & MM; A & HW; BD; DL; JW; MM; TB; MG; LH; DH; M & JF; RJ; DM; DJ; J &UA; BB;
Apologies: KS; JJ; JB
In Attendance as Guest Speakers from Roads & Maritime Servies: -
Senior Project Manager, Craig Leckie; Project Manager, Teresa Ting and
Co-ordination Manager, CorinneThompson – a Power Point Presentation to follow
Before handing over to RMS –
Acceptance of December minutes (brief as they were) as a true record – moved AR 2nd BR
Treasurers report: Balance $417.10 credit including receipt of $20 as reimbursement for some photomontages re Glen Rd and $90 paid out for same and $2 for membership fees from AB and SMc. Have since taken more money tonight, $8, for memberhip Request approval to repay DW for purchase of 30 postage stamps $21. Moved AW 2nd HW
At 3rd September 2014 meeting, all present were advised that Jeff Jones had agreed to take on the position of Secretary once he had retired – noted in those minutes. Now retired, and with all in agreeance I move that his offer be accepted. All in favour – unanimous ….. Against – nil Motion carried and Jeff will take over minutes etc from April meeting.
1st round of Councillor Grants closed in February and 2nd round will close on 31/5 – hence I move that an application should be forwarded for minimum of $300 … 2nd AR and all in favour, unanimous. GMc to prepare budget for 2015-6 to enable AR to complete application.
Have letter of apology for tonights meeting from Jeff with notation that he will write to WSC about the rubbish outside the RugbyUnion cottage on Chittaway Rd.
Thank you Craig, Teresa and Corinne – meeting and presentation over to you.
Craig – before starting presentation a bit about what my team does – we are based here on the CC at Woy Woy and when there’s a major road project to develop, we undertake the design, community consultation, environmental studies get planning approvals etc then hand it over to other areas for detailed design and construction although I’m still involved in co-ordination. Teresa works with me and is working on one of the projects we’ll talk about tonight and has previously worked on others. Corinne is a project co-ordinator for the CC – Guess best way to explain my job is to say I get involved with talking to people who may have issues with projects as well as council etc.
Craig – (Power Point presentation commenced)Main area we are still working on is just south of Ourimbah down through to Manns Rd– still developing.Back in 2009 the Gov at the time decided on the upgrades the highway in stages and that’s what we’ve been doing. Work done in stages - if done all at once no one would get anywhere. Stages 1 & 2 completed some time ago, stage 3 is in 2 parts – (more managable). Premier androads minister etc here a few weeks ago and they announced funding approved for stage 3a. Stage 3b – currently has an environmental study on display and that closes on 9th March if anyone wishes to make comments. Stage 4 , much longer - Parsons Rd down to Narara Ck Rd.All our projects,
have overriding objectives - safety for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists and to relieve congestion on roads. Early 2013we announced through our minister that after selection process
completed we were going to upgrade Pacific Hwy rather than the alternative, Railway Cres.
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Main reason was environment problems – issues on other side were that if we started putting new roads through flood plains they would cause flooding issues affecting many, many people as well as environmental damage.
Stage 3a - Glen Rd to Ourimbah St – construction funding announced. Ourimbah St and Parsons Rd, Stage 3b at final stage of initial plan and looking to finalise concept design in coming months. Because we’ve found a few environment issues need to have a species impact statement done which will take a little time. Then Parsons Rd to Narara Ck Rd, Stage 4 – may need to break that up, little over 4.7km so difficult to do that in one hit due to traffic issues particularly over main north rail line.
Glen Rd to Ourimbah St features Stage 3a:
Traffic signals at Walmsley, Teralba and Ourimbah Sts – not feasible to connect any of these streets to avoid lights
Service road from Teralba St to remain but modified with a cul-de-sac on the southern end
Service road and parking from Walmsley towards Tall Timbers Hotel will be removed – no space for its retention
Service road at LionsPark to remain but modified – some parking to remain
Four liquid amber trees will be removed from LionsPark and along the corridor other trees will be removed to allow for widening
No pedestrian path on eastern side of highway south of Walmsley
New roadworks planned around the 20 & 100 year flood plan.
No commencement date for works as yet – construction to start as soon as RMS advised OK to go to tender. General time frame allowed for from start to completion, 2 years (depends on contractor, weather etc). Gov in caretaker mode at the moment, so no works will commence until after the election.
Ourimbah St to Parsons Rd features, Stage 3b:
Two lanes in each direction
New bridge over rail line, replacing existing narrow bridge near Railway Crescent
New traffic lights at Railway Cres. and Tuggerah St. (formerly Macdonalds Rd) intersections
Upgrading existing traffic lights at Chamberlain Rd
Improved pedestrian and cycle paths along and across highway
Improved access to parking area at Lisarow Railway
Key benefits:
Improved traffic flow andmore consistent travel times
Improvedaccess to connecting roads
Improved pedestrian and cycle network
* building the bridge over rail line will be a long drawn out process for safety reasons
* no time frame for construction at this time
Q: Will lights at Walmsley, Teralba & Ourimbah Sts have same right turn sequence as Glen Rd if no traffic still can’t turn right
A: This called ‘filter’. Don’t generally allow that on main roads anymore for safety reasons, found that drivers missed the gaps – does delay traffic a bit longer but much safer. At night red arrow removed. Headlights easier to see and considered safer for turning right when lights green
Hydrology and flooding:
Mitigation and management measures required to minimise potential flood events, including provision of increased floodplain storage during construction and after completion of the upgrade. With increased flood storage measures in place, the overall impact on the proposed upgrade area has been assessed as low
Traffic and transport:
Construction may be carried out in several stages to minimise impact on motorists.
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Construction would also require traffic switches and lane closures with one lane in each
direction maintained at all times with a reduced speed limit of 40km/h for duration of works.
Dora St at intersection with Railway Cres may need to be closed for a period of time during some stages in order to construct the new bridge – advice in advance would be given. Will be some road alignment changes at Dora. Some night work would be required to minimise traffic disruptions with low noise impact.
Biodiversity:
This assessment identified two threatened flora species and potential habitat of several threatened fauna species within proposed area with a significant impact on Melaleuca biconvexa.
RMS will prepare a Species Impact Statement required under the Threatened Conservation Act 1995. A referral is required in order to proceed with the current proposal under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 when a matter of National Environmental Significance has been identified. Assessment f the referral application by the Australian Government is expected to take place in 2015.
Heritage:
Some permanent changes to LisarowCemetery frontage, which includes relocating the old cemetery gates to a nearby location, vegetation clearing and reducing the distance between the grave sites and the highway. Potential mitigation measures include managing vibration levels, planting of fast growing species along the perimeter of the cemetery and installing safety barriers to ensure there is no accidental damage to the headstone and above ground components of the grave sites
Note 1: No work will commence without notification being given to residents who may be affected and minimum of 18months before starting. Still a lot of work to be done
Pacific HwyManns Rd between Parsons Rd Lisarow and Narara Ck Rd at Narara, Stage 4:
Preferred option features:
Two lanes in each direction on Pacific Hwy
Traffic lights to replace the roundabout at the Manns Rd & Pacific Hwy intersection
Traffic lights to replace roundabout at Manns Rd & Narara Valley Drive
New bridge structures along Manns Rd over Narara Ck and railway line * bridge will have to be higher and wider than current and still looking at drawings
Traffic lights on Manns Rd at the Narara Ck Rd,Adam St,/Reeves St and Showground Rd intersections
Traffic lights on Pacific Hwy at the Parsons Rd, Newling St,Lenna St/Pierce St, Nurra Rd/Argyle Ave and Berrys Head Rd intersections
New roundabout at Reeves St and a new local St
New local roads connection Carrington & Reeves Sts, and Berrys Head and Wyoming Rds
Improved pedestrian and cycle paths along and across Pacific Hwy and Manns Rd
Synchronisation of traffic lights, with priority given to traffic flows along Pacific Hwy and Manns Rd
* decision to follow Pacific Hwy & not Railway Cr due to possibility of causing flooding of 2- 300 new homes, and possible need to construct several bridges/or one large bridge
Key Benefits:
Improved traffic flow on Pacific Hwy and Manns Rd
Improved safety for all road users
Improved pedestrian & cycle network
Further information available on website rms.nsw.gov.au
This project when completed will link up with West Gosford and even with all these traffic signals a saving of 4/5 minutes in travel time estimated.
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Comment re Ourimbah – RTA took away foothpath on railway side that went up to
roundabout because they were going to put in a lift from opposite side with walkway over highway. Did not happen. Response: Yes this was to occur but community at that time said they did not want overhead pedestrian crossing. Ultimately, that ‘little’ roundabout is going to have to be replaced, don’t know exactly when, with signals, when that happens we will look at pedestrian accessability. Now, if pedestrians use that path they are taking their lives in their hands to cross over at that roundabout. Q: why when going to the school, if we press lights at Glen Rd and Station St, is all traffic on highway stopped. A: know this is a limitation at moment and constant software updating being done, know an overhall needed but cant say when likely to be fixed. Will get signal people to look into this. Q: LionsPark – any plans to upgrade e.g. put in toilets etc A: no, that is matter for council. Some trees will go due to widening and part of road modified. Not RMS land, we own ‘black part’ council the rest.
Craig, Teresa and Corinne thanked for attendance and presentation – round of applause.
Note 2: The foregoing is a brief extract of the presentation during which maps and diagrams were shown on screen. All present given the opportunity to ask questions. Further information is available on RMS website
or
Roads and Maritime Services, Level 1 29-37 George Street, WoyWoy 2256 or
Teresa Ting 4379 7037
;Meeting continued:
David Mehan – Labour candidate for The Entrance:
Long night, so will be brief. I live around the corner off Shirley St, Ourimbah in heart of The Entrance. Big difference between the two parties in this State election is that the Baird Govt want to privatise the ‘poles and wires’ that carry the electricity to your house. Its also the jobs of those men who service these poles and wires, that are employed by one of the companies, Ausgrid, here in Ourimbah who are could lose their jobs. The Govt is going to take on a lease of the poles and wires for 99yrs, they say they are going to lease 49% of it, but when you look at the detail, because the poles/wires are actually separate bits – the poles themselves are called Transgrid, they are going to get rid of this to whoever bids the most money, someone else will own the wires that go to your house. The Ausgrid business is Govt owned at the moment, but they will get rid of 50.4% of that.
Have been speaking to Phil, a local resident who has been approached by State Rail. Seems they have a proposal to build a major works depot in Baileys Rd. Have written to find out more but with election coming up may not hear back until after. DW: I heard that State Rail were going to turn the mill site into a rail works depot or shunting yard
DM: Don’t know about this
MM: Mentioned at Ourimbah MasterPlan meeting that some 150 houses could be built on Baileys Rd
DM: Have not heard about this but we need to keep on top of these.
TB: Number of us live west of the expressway - we’ve been in LakeMacquarie electorate and nobody has told us where we are. Candidate for Wyong sent something, but we wondered why she sent it. Comment: So boundaries changed again.
DM: Candidates should have sent out letters but seems likely you are on western side so in Wyong electorate.
David thanked with round of applause
Greg McGill re update on Boarding House, Glen Rd development:
Been a code of silence if you like from WSC nothing coming out of their office. Some dates appeared on their website saying a decision was to be made on 9th March what we had was
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12th March and I sent email to contact officer, first one no response, next one said these dates generated by computer system and definitely wont be finished by those dates at all and one sentence quite interesting ‘ the application is to be re-notified with letters to be mailed shortly’.
So, reading between the lines, what it means is, the developer has decided to change the plans again. That means, the plans we objected to this last time, are not going before the Joint Regional Planning Panel and developer is putting forward revised plans again. Comment: So it didn’t comply! I wrote to Council asking if I could view the correspondence from the applicant to council and was advised this was between council and the applicant and was not for public viewing. AR: So our comments are, but theirs are not! G: Then I asked why they
had accepted a submission supporting the development, from LJ Hooker at Terrigal, 20 days after the closing date, and was advised, ‘ whilst the late submission was placed on the website,
it does not mean it is included as a submission unless a request is made to submit a late submission and supported by council it is not recorded in submission numbers’. She has not said whether it was..
BD: Spoke to couple of people one from ….? and another around CarolineBay about this. Both have portable housing near and both said the police are called regularly.
TB: Isn’t it interesting when you see the RMS and the like, come in and put their plans up before us not only for now but well into the future, to communicate with the people its going to effect, yet here you have a developer wanting to put something in our little spot but they don’t even come and stand up in front of us. That speaks volumes to me.
GMc: Very frustrating for all of us but we can’t give up now. When it does come around again, will send out newsletter and hopefully get your support again to make submissions against the development. Thank you.
Greg thanked with round of applause
DW: Several people have been accepted for the Masterplan panel – Community/business representatives: JC; AR; DJ; DL; LP; AB and ORRA representatives: DW & JJ.
Applause – thank you.
I have also received confirmation that alternates will be accepted if any of the above are unable to attend a meeting and as such, I nominated MF on behalf of ORRA – nomination accepted ( have emailed you). So, if anyone is unable to attend a meeting, please ensure you nominate an alternate or if anyone would like to be an alternate please let me know. TB I acknowledge your interest, so can you please email me your details.
BB: On general business before meeting closes, in Turpentine Rd you may realise it floods about every 6 months. We have very active members who have championed our cause and we have received a letter from Councillor Eaton, Mayor, WSC who writes - he is pleased to advise that council will build an alternative floodscape route in Turpentine Rd, fully funded by council. Today I represented the Central Coast Campus Friends at Wyong for the NSW Forum Growth Area– some people allowed to put questions to the CC Minister, I put to Mr Stokes ‘with the proposed north precinct education hub, that they are looking at, how this would divert and dilute resources ……?……….
Sorry, my tape ran out – if I’ve missed important information that should have been added, please write it down and if necessary it will be added to April’s minutes.
Next meeting 1st April.
No Guest speaker
7.30pm Open meeting 8.00pm Glen Rd Boarding Hse report
7.35pm Apologies 8.10pm Discussion re above/submissions
7.40pm Confirmation of March minutes 8.20pm Correspondence
Omissions from March minutes 8.30pm General Business
7.50pm Treasurers report 8.45pm Estimated close
May 6 meeting – Karen McNamara, Federal Member for Dobell