10 Lagoon Street, Ettalong Beach, NSW

I am concerned about the increase in traffic in the street. There is a high volume already with the number of people using the street to access netball courts. The road does not cope with the volume of high speed traffic with quite a lot of sink holes and potholes that appear frequently and are dangerous. The childcare centre will change the tone of the street and may cause accidents as there is little kerb and guttering and limited safe parking. The street is very narrow and a lot of drivers do not give way on the narrow road and speed.

I also agree with the comments all ready submitted around traffic management. The road has no formal structure, no kerbs, no drainage. Grass frontages with no formal driveways, so often traffic is impeded by road flooding also there is no street parking and footpaths. Most of the residents in the street are elderly and some use motorized scooters in the street and have to use the road as there are no footpaths again creating traffic challenges. Anyone approaching the childcare facility on foot would not have footpaths to use and with local flooding at times have to walk directly on the road. Given that the noise created during the day from a childcare facility to residents who are mainly at home during the day would significantly impact quality of life. Reading the traffic management report they do not take into account the current conditions of the road and also that there would be peak traffic flows in and out of the property around the start and end of the day which would flow into the street as well as functions the the childcare centre might have for families and how the overflow of additional cars etc would be catered for.

I agree with the above comments and worry about the increased traffic around the proposed development. Lagoon St is narrow and underdeveloped in comparison to many other roads in the area, it floods when it rains, and regularly has large potholes.

As a previous commenter mentioned, it is home to many elderly and retired residents and the noise that will be created from the children at the childcare center alone will disrupt their daily lives immensely. Several houses have been recently bought in the street and these new residents would be disappointment to know that the lovely, quiet area they have purchased into will not be anymore.

There is not much parking available in the street already - if one neighbour has a gathering at their house, for example, most of the street parking is instantly occupied. This makes the street even narrower. With the development of this childcare centre, this would become an everyday issue and I am concerned the street will become dangerous for my family and our young child, as well as our elderly neighbours who frequently walk on the road as there are no footpaths.

I understand there is a huge shortage of childcare on the Central Coast, I had to experience these long waitlists firsthand and feel for the families on the peninsula that are also experiencing this, but I do not believe Lagoon St is a suitable location for one.

While I somewhat agree with some of the previous complaints about traffic, the implication that a child care centre would disrupt the lives of elderly residents sounds downright alarmist at best and very NIMBY-ish at worst.

The Peninsula is gradually gentrifying and becoming more modern with more up-to-date facilities and spaces for families. Part of that is the shift of an ageing demographic to a younger generation who are raising young families, where multiple child care opportunities are essential. This is made extremely difficult when fewer child care facilities are made available, presenting parents already struggling with the cost of living crisis to stay at home as primary caregivers when no care places are available.

I would argue that should this property develop into a child care facility, that yielded enough demand, Council would be forced to re-evaluate traffic management to include proper drainage, traffic flows, parking regulations, etc. This is without mentioning the published downturn of motor vehicle usage for small trips and the increase of foot traffic and bicycles in the community, that will only increase in years to come as fuel and manufacturing prices remain high.

Leaving it as-is and not collaborating constructively is only going to hurt working families.

Objection to proposed Childcare Centre at 10 Lagoon Street:

I would like to object to this application for the following reasons:

1. Architectural plans and Positioning.
a. The property is 3.5 meters from the front of the block. The other new properties in 12 Lagoon Street when approved by council had a minimum distance requirement set by council as 6 metres from the front of the block.
b. This will place the property out of context with other developments on the street. It also means that the positioning of the ground floor car parks is directly outside the bedroom windows of next-door property bedrooms.
c. Their coverage for the building also exceeds limits for coverage on the block for standard residency.
d. Fencing restrictions by council had their heights restricted at the front of the blocks in street to allow for visibility to the street and had to be lowered to cater for this restriction. This development would be built in front of the current restrictions and impact privacy and visibility to the street and oncoming traffic
e. In our opinion the operation of childcare centre in the current zoning is inappropriate. Such a facilitating cannot operate without compromising the surrounding neighbourhood. The provisions of the child day care centre have not been adequately considered. The primary reasons for the location of the development in a residential area is to maximise financial gain for the owners at the expense of the surrounding residents. It would appear that the developer is misleading the council regarding the impact of this facility on the surrounding environment, Residents and Streetscape
2. (Operational Plan Appendix 18) It states the hours of operation are 7:00am to 6:00pm daily 52 weeks of the year. It also states drop-offs begin at 7:00am. Staff will be arriving prior to 7:00am to open the centre and prepare for arrival of children and therefore would disrupt residents with noise outside of stated council guidelines.
a. Cleaning and maintenance schedules are not included. Cleaners and other maintenance procedures will take place outside of operational hours as it would be difficult to clean until children have left for the day. That is additional noise and activity that is not outlined in the operational plan.
b. In the operational plan or traffic report parking for the additional services the centre requires would park during these operational elements.
c. The operational plan mentions openings and centre functions. They would impact on the site and surrounding properties with noise additional traffic and parking requirements during these events. Childcare centres typically have several of these events through a year with Xmas, Mother’s Day, father’s day, Halloween, Annual parties etc. There is no allowance in the application for the management of these events. I would like confirmation that no on-site events would be conducted.
d. Also noted in the operating plan regarding parking, there is a small reference there to the staff at times having to maybe park off the site. Where would the staff park as there is no street parking currently available.
e. The construct of the plans for the property has the car parks consuming the ground level which means vehicles are driving onto the block and parking directly opposite resident’s bedrooms and living areas on the properties next door. That is significant noise and disruption throughout the day right through the property not just at a street level. Most houses are designed to manage that noise at a street frontage but not right through all aspects of the block and property. There has been no consideration outlined for this disruption in the operational plan or designs of the property.
f. There is no specific in the operational plan around waste management and if they will use commercial services or local council pickup. There is no consideration for the additional noise and traffic requirements if a commercial service is used and where the waste will be stored so there is no environmental impact to close residents.
3. (Traffic Report Appendix 14) The traffic management report does not factor in several disruptive elements to the traffic flow to the property.
a. The report mentions street parking is permitted but no reference to the condition of the road. For the most part to park on the street would require parking on grass outside most properties in the street. During wet days this could easily become muddy and unusable. The street regular floods due to a lack of infrastructure to clear water after rainfall.
b. The report mentions the current carriageway in Lagoon St is 5 metres and that surrounding streets 7 – 12 metres wide which illustrates the concerns residents have for larger traffic flows and that the road is largely suited today for single vehicles with others need the additional grass areas on the road to pull over and let vehicles pass. If overflow parking restricted that flow, it could add to safety concerns and potential accidents.
c. The traffic management report does not cater for functions or events typically conducted at Childcare centres and how would that additional traffic flow be catered for and would they only happen during published operational hours.
d. The traffic report does not talk to the condition of the road. With a lack of drainage, the road often subsides and is not maintained well by cancel
e. There is no overflow parking on the street and infrastructure to cater for overflow parking or staff parking. There is also no footpaths so often people with prams or kids attempting to walk up the street walk on the road, particularly when its wet. People using public transport for drop off could have safety impacted.
f. A Childcare centre will require a regular flow of deliveries and commercial vehicles to provide supplies and operational needs such as cleaning. There is no consideration for that traffic flow and how parking would be serviced.
g. The report uses recent government surveys on childcare traffic data to assess traffic flow. It does not factor in staff traffic, commercial traffic for deliveries and centre maintenance. It does suggest that street parking can cater for all those requirements. As mentioned above the road is a narrow street with grass on either side for parking that will not cope with significant traffic increases and wet weather could significantly impact its viability. There are also safety concerns for this blocking ongoing traffic flow.
4. Appendix 15 Acoustic Assessment report. This report is not included in the published documents online. I cannot see considerations for air conditioning (where it will be located the size, assuming there is a commercial grade product required and the noise implications for neighbouring properties. The noise from vehicles flowing into the property to the rear of the block. The noise created during outdoor play time and the impact on neighbours attempting to rest during the day. The constant operation of the garage door at the front of the property to accommodate arrivals and departures. Parking plans have vehicles entering well into the depth of the block and corresponding residents were not designed to cater and protect against the noise and disruption.
5. Privacy Screening. There is no consideration of privacy screening for the centre as it provides direct visual access to both properties on either side of the development.
6. Stormwater Engineering Plans. The rainwater tanks are located directly on the boundary with 12 Lagoon Street and are over 2.2 metres high which would exceed the height of the current fence and obscure the current view.
a. The area is a flood risk area and after recently building a house in the area and having to build in storm water flood pits on our property these is no consideration in the plans for flood risk and mitigation.

Central Coast council requirements for childcare centre listed in Part 2 Development Provisions Chapter 2.8 Section 3.3 Site Requirments states the following objective " To ensure the site is of sufficient size to meet the minimum area requirements for indoor and outdoor play spaces and car parking"
Requirments 3.31 Residential Zones
a) The site must have a minimum width of 18 metrea at the building line setback
I have noted that 10 Laggon Street is approximately 15 metres wide and so is approximately 3 metres less than the required stipulation.
Section 3.8 of the DA Traffic parking and pedestrian circulation states " the street poses no pedestrain dangers as it is a flat, straight and tree-lined street that will provide safe pedestrian access to the proposed childcare centre".
Currently between Barrenjoey Road and Springwood Road, there are no footpaths on one side of the street while there are no continuous footpaths as well as limited footpath access on the side of the proposed childcare centre. The lack of safe footpath access and the numerous trees on the verges force the elderly, particularly those using walkers, people with prams, strollers and dogs have to walk on the road for the majority of Lagoon Street, This makes the street quite dangerous for pedestrians at any time of the day and more importantly with the increased traffic during opening and closing times of the centre as well as residents going to and from their driveways. This will lead to increased potential dangers for the growth in pedestrian numbers and traffic due to the centre. Currently drivers regularly stop to give way to oncoming traffic due to parked cars and pedestriansdue to the narrow nature of the unkerbed street and this occurrence will increase dramatically.
Central Coast Concil requirements
3.4 Traffic Impact
Objectives - "To ensure the safe movement of traffic entering and exiting the site"
Requirements - " Approval will not be granted where existing traffic volumes would be created by children crossing the road or by vehicles turning in the vicinity of the site" There are numerous driveways in close proximity to the childcare centre's entry points and with cars parked on the grassed verges, visibility will be diminished resulting in increased potential danger for children accessing the site.
3.6 Objective - "To ensure pedestrain safety and safe access/egress from the site for all vehicles"
Requirements - a) "a drive-in/drive-out drop-pff site is required"
b) All vehicles entering and leaving the site shall be able to do so in a forward direction"
Version 2 of the current plan no longer provides a turning area for vehicles if all parking spaces are occupied and the drieway is now narrower with no separation to ensure the required forward movement of vehicles can occur.
Section 6 DA Vehicle Access and Serviceing states the "service vehicles will be vans and utes so are suitable for on-street parking".
The street already contains a number of dual occupancy lots close to the proposed site resulting in residents currently using the limited on-street parkiing. Service vehicles will have a direct impact on traffic flow in both directions, particularly if these delivery vehicles are larger than a ute as they will force vehicles on to the verge if there are no parked cars again causing increased potential danger to pedestrians. The service vehicles will impact on the visibility for residents leaving their driveways also creating potential danger to pedestrians. Service vehicles will also create noise pollution.
In conclusion, for the reasons stated above, the proposed development will have a negative impact on the area. The overall aesthetic of this quiet residential street will be compromised due to the industrial like signs used to advertise the business, as well as the increased noise and traffic in what is traditionally a quiet beachside community.

Please regard planning tools.. I believe that this development is too large for the block; parking and road size is unsuitable for a child care business to be run from.