Some Initial Our Park Comments on the Consultants Redfern Oval / Park Proposal

The Council Documents are substantial and will need review and are now available at http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/Council/MeetingsAndCommittees/2006/Committees/310706/environment.asp.

While the draft broadly has merit there are issues not addressed & points which breach the Council resolution on my review. These matters need consideration and need to be dealt with and may lead to the proposal being unacceptable in terms of the impact on adjacent/nearby residents. 

Breaches based on our assessment are:

• capacity of stand 1500 rather than 1260
• capacity of ground as proposed is 11,000 based on Council 1 person per sqm model breaching 8,000 capacity in resolution (due to changed method of calculation)
• this implies parking for 3700 cars with absolutely no management plans in place
• if you consider the roof to define the area then this is 2750 sqm v less than 1000sqm in existing proposals
• the design does not include various needs such as corporate boxes etc - adding to capacity creating at least an 8M high wall on western side
  

Based on my rough review issues to be addressed include:

Stand Issues - elevations etc

• absence of corporate/commentator/management facilities in the grounds (to be addressed later) - on previous enquiry management denied issue; but left open in document
• no provision for ticketing booth & turnstile - on previous enquiry management denied issue; but this is clearly to be addressed in future per documents [will need to be sited opposite Leagues Club]
• no additional kiosk - on previous enquiry management denied issue; but left open in document
• On this, Council staff have claimed that there was a request for the Kiosk/meeting room to be separate from the stand - this is not substantiated by the documents (on my peruse)
• The issue is that the stand needs basically to be built in at the rear with various boxes and structures and these will impact on residents
• there is just an absence of accurate measures of building heights & elevations re the street slope; so no impacts can be really done and height comparisons  understate impact.  it is unclear how far the surface will be dropped in the documents, and therefore height impact issues are uncertain and document claims that 5m high structure is one floor high, and an 8m high roof (at minimum) is two stories.  Further, elevations mis-represent height of mounding to stand comparatives - by implying  mounding is a consistent 4M in height in fact rises roughly from about 2.5m to 4m being about 3.5m at end of where stand would be - inferring the stand would be proud of existing mounds on face value by 1.5m
• Also as depth that ground will be sunk is presently uncertain, then height of stand & roof is uncertain
• grandstand shape being driven by SSJDRLFC (i.e. Juniors) request p17 Attachment B, contrary to explicit comments (and not referenced) by Open Up Redfern Park about bring the structure south and impacting on residents unnecessarily  Your gotta ask why they get the say
• the proposal includes an extended stand which for some reason has been located solely in front of residences rather than in front of the Leagues Club.
  

Seats in Stand & Area

• current grandstand capacity is 1260 - new stand capacity is 1500 - breaching Council decision that capacity to remain same
• additional seating along Chalmers St side of 1200 (specific seat type not defined)
• stand area proposed is 800sqm plus cafe = 130 sqm plus turnstiles left out v existing stand 800sqm (actual area not as larged as illustrated) + other existing elements approx 200sqm = so on a favourable interpretation proposals just comply with Council decision that footprint to be the same 
• if Stand was to incorporate elements not yet addressed (e.g. commentators box/corporate box in stand it would exceed area specification [I note the stand is about 75m long] 
• roof footprint = approx 2750 sqm at my estimate based on drawings - which clearly breaches Council decision
• I cannot locate specific reference to type of seats proposed in stand or for Chalmers St side of ground - although Council advises no bucket seating 
  

8 Souths Games & Crowd Capacity

• plan of management enables 8, yes count them (they only play 12 home games a season), 8 Rabbitohs pre-season/exhibition games at the Oval per year
• crowd capacity at 1 person per sqm (Council measure) is probably over 11,000 - with Eastern side seating of 3000 this well above 8,000 limit and capacity claims of 5000 are therefore a nonsense; This breaches intent of Council decision on capacity by fudging the result 
  

Lease/Licences

•  there is no vision for a lease to any parties - I presume licences are to be max 5 years as the Juniors and Football Club are both deemed 'for profit' they could not be issued expect through public tender - so this really is disingenuous
• Closure of the ground rules in the Plan of Management are too loose at this time, given Council behaviour in the past 
• there is serious uncertainty as to the ground access times for different parties due to the need to maintain a first class training surface - in times of wet weather the ground may be more closed that open for non-NRL teams 
  

Ground Hours

• proposed for 7AM to 11PM rather than current licence of 7.30AM to 10.30PM with additional noise restrictions being no earlier than 9AM
  

Parking

• on site parking issues  are  being ignored - management denied issue; not addressed in document  this is a critical issue  - at 78m by 3m per spot there is a ready 26 car spaces behind the stand and no noted restrictions on vehicles movements 
• given above crowd capacity of 11,000 = proposal implies 3700 cars  in neighbouring streets 
• there are absolutely no plans in place to handle this volume of traffic addressed in these documents 
• on street issues and parking management is inadequate
• drawings imply adjustments to footpaths near corners to reduce access to parking in these areas so while Phillip St to be 90 degrees the overall on street capacity is likely to not change (or be reduced in residential strips!) 
  

In Park (do you walk a dog?)

• it seems the clearing out of the eastern side of all features in the park are probably being driven by a desire for this to be used as a sports warm up area - a need identified by the Juniors Club   - the proposal in the papers is for junior teams/RAB teams to warm-up on the hard surface playing courts
• it seems it may be the intention to actually enforce dogs on leads rules per plan of management - whether they actually will enforce is hard to know
• Lacks a clear tree planting program, gets vague at the detail/do level in the Tree Management Plan
  

Other Sportsground

• no genuine provision for on playing field fitness track [a six lane sprinting track 110m on the Eastern side meaning runners have to stop dead or run into fence)
• proposal was for a two lane rubberised running/training track around perimeter of ground for fitness - reducing ground wear and tear and making field accessible for this purpose in all weathers. this is an absolute necessity
• despite surprising management claims that Sports club signage (i.e. Rabbitoh signs) were not to be on ground - sports club signage is specifically addressed under the plan of management
• I cannot locate reference to scoreboards or reference to speakers in the ground - this would be a serious omission 
• uncertain as to actual access rules for parties using the ground given concerns of excess usage
  

Undergrounding Electricity Cables

• paper does not seem to address underground cabling of electrical wires along Chalmers St

Regards
Ian Thomson
9699 9152
0413 483 247