Comments made here were sent to Bundaberg Regional Council. Add your own comment.
I strongly believe that a service station so close to the a school or even next to a school is extremely unhealthy for the still growing young personalities due to the fumes of the fluids. Apart from the potential traffic congestions and the increased noise impact, it is highly unethical to propose building shops right next to a primary school where 4 to 12 year old children attend on a daily basis.
Kalkie State School has grown significantly over the last few years, always welcoming so many new families to the school.
The school is located on Bargara Road, very close to the proposed neighbourhood centre.
The school's location on a main road, which is very busy particularly at peek times, still has very limited parking for families who attend the school.
Despite having a main entrance to the school on Zielke Avenue, and not too long ago upgrading the parking spaces in front of the school, there is still simply not a lot of parking to accommodate the large number of families picking up and dropping off their children every day.
This forces families to park further down from the school and walk to the school entrance, and encourages more families to use the very busy Bargara Road entrance at peek times to avoid trying to find a park on Zielke Avenue.
- There are so many families with young children using the Bargara main road as pedestrians every day. Students and families safely use the school crossing, however this is within an already very busy school zone on Bargara Road.
The Bargara Road and Zielke Avenue intersection is not controlled by lights, and is extremely congested at peek times, so once students are dropped off or collected from school on Zielke Avenue, getting back onto that main road (Bargara Road) is near impossible.
- Not only for parents travelling in cars but also for a number of childcare centre staff and children travelling in buses, who find it very difficult to enter back onto Bargara Road as there is simply no break in traffic.
I would describe this area of Bargara Road as sometimes 'chaotic' at peek times.
There is a huge flow of traffic entering the area from Bargara each day; families who are travelling into town to drop off or collect students from all other schools in Bundaberg not just Kalkie school, and people heading to and from work.
This continuous flow of traffic going to and from Bargara (and its surrounding areas) causes very litte break in traffic for those trying to enter onto Bargara Road.
The back way to and from the school - along Zielke Ave, Sauers Road and Gahans Road, is regularly used by the transport trucks in this area, as well as many farmers/tractors/work trucks and regular on road cyclists, which at times has proven to be just as built up and busy at school times as the main road.
- The more families choosing to travel this back way to avoid trying to get back onto Bargara Road, the more built up and unsafe it becomes along this 80km/hr road. (Sauers Rd).
I have often times found myself travelling behind a large group of cyclists, who are travelling behind a slower tractor or work vehicle, with large transport trucks travelling 80km/hr passing in the opposite direction. It is not an ideal detour for any big increase of traffic.
The roads surrounding the school, particularly Bargara Road, is always so built up and so busy that attracting more traffic flow or making any big changes to this little area will potentionally have a big impact on the school itself and the safety of the families.
Please consider ways to improve or reduce the traffic on Bargara Road and the areas surrounding the school when considering a neighbourhood centre so close.
Please consider ways to reduce the impact in all other ways that this may have on the school and the school community.
Thank you
The concept plan ( Fig 2.2 on Develop Proposal 1 of 3) is not clear on how the exiting lanes from the development will merge back into 2 lanes in front of the school on Bargara Rd ? Can BRC and/or the developer please provide more clarfication on this.?
Will there be parking spaces lost because of this.?
How will an exit lane like that not become a bottle-neck at 40km/h school zone times..?
Also, the boundary maps show the vegetation area along the creek to be inside ( part of) the development. Will there be an obligation on the developer to maintain this native vegegation area and not let it degrade ?
Thanks
This is proposal is concern on many levels, particularly in relation to Kalkie State School students’ safety and welfare as the school is situated only 210 meters from the proposed development site.
Traffic Congestion Issues
As highlighted by the abovementioned public submissions, Kalkie State School is a growing primary school (one of Bundaberg's little gems) with student numbers increasing each year due to traffic congestion at peak school times is concerning. The school and P&C are doing all they can to lobby for better traffic related fixes through Government agencies, especially relating to the immediate vicinity of the school grounds, but to-date no such solution has been reached. I believe that additional congestion in this area caused by the proposal will further negatively impact on student safety.
Hazardous and Flammable Materials
Service stations store and handle large amounts of hazardous chemicals which present unique hazards, due to the flammability of their products. This proposal being so close to Kalkie State School and the children and staff that attend this school (7 hours a day, 5 days a week) is concerning. Let alone through the fact that a natural gas pipeline runs under the parking area along Zielke Avenue in front of the school’s main entrance adds further concern to the proposal's validity. Personally, (as mum of students that attend this wonderful school) this concerns me considerable, because if there were some unfortunate gas leak or situation at the proposed service station, these children would be in the middle of a dire situation.
Please consider my thoughts and my objection to this proposal. As decisions are made about this proposal, please keep me informed.
