Woolworths has responded to issues raised by Mosman Council (May 2020) in relation to its proposed development of a Metro supermarket in the heart of Mosman Village.
And a preliminary environmental investigation has identified carcinogenic contaminants on the site.
Site contamination
The preliminary environmental investigation “identified carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) within fill soils [on the site] at concentrations which pose a potential risk to human receptors.”
At its request Woolworths has been granted an extension of time to provide the following to Council:
- a detailed report of the site contamination
- a remediation action plan
- a site audit by an EPA accredited auditor
13 October 2020 deadline
Council has advised Woolworths that “no further extension will be permitted. If the documentation is not submitted by 13 October 2020 the application will be refused without further consultation.”
Woolworths’ response to Council’s issues
As reported in May, Mosman Council’s Executive Town Planner raised numerous substantive issues in relation to Woolworths’ development application.
Ethos Urban (consultants) provided the following response on behalf of Woolworths:
urban-ethos-response-to-council-2020-07-21Documents referred to in the correspondence from Ethos Urban are available via the following links:
- Traffic and parking statement addendum letter
- Revised architectural drawings
- Economic needs assessment addendum letter
- A photomontage of the proposal from Military Road
- Revised plan of management prepared by Woolworths
- Acoustic assessment addendum letter
- Preliminary site investigation (contamination report)
- Construction management plan
- Revised arborist’s report
- Revised site survey
- Revised structural design statement
- Revised accessibility statement
- Landscape plan
- Revised waste management
Traffic, parking and pedestrian safety not adequately addressed
The community remains very concerned that significant issues related to traffic, parking and pedestrian access and safety have not been adequately addressed by Woolworths.
In particular:
- traffic flows along and between intersections of Military Road, Belmont Road, Gouldsbury Street and neighbourhood roads have not been comprehensively surveyed or analysed:
- surveys were limited to Thursday afternoon and Saturday midday in December 2018
- analysis used simplistic demand/capacity ratios and did not take into account interaction between intersections such as queuing from one intersection impacting the operation of another
- survey and analysis of seasonality of traffic flows has not been performed
- the interaction of the entrance and exit of the proposed car park and truck loading dock with Gouldsbury Street has not been adequately surveyed or analysed
- pedestrian access and safety around and through the car park has not been satisfactorily addressed
- impacts on pedestrian, rider and driver safety due to increased traffic and congestion have not been addressed
- environmental (noise, pollution) impacts due to increased traffic generation and congestion have not been addressed
- car parking
- proposed parking has been reduced from 20 to 18 spaces
- Council planning code requires 56 spaces
- RMS requirement is minimum 35 spaces
- the parking survey method (simply observing customers at Boronia Park and Rozelle stores) used by Woolworths’ traffic consultants to justify 18 spaces does not take into account factors impacting traffic and parking generation, including
- local and visiting car usage
- demographics
- geography
- nearby parking availability
- altered shopping patterns during a pandemic
- the proposed layout of the car park is very tight and undersupply of parking spaces is likely to lead to reversing/multiple turns in the laneway and car park
- the layout of the laneway to the north of the site remains unresolved
- the proposed mixture of truck and car circulation is poor design practice
- contrary to the traffic consultants’ assertion, “linked trips to other [shopping] destinations” do increase demand for parking as shoppers will stay longer and thus reduce availability
- a survey of current supermarket parking demand and usage in Mosman has not been and should be done
- proposed parking has been reduced from 20 to 18 spaces
Some improvements
Woolworths has amended its proposal in response to Council as follows:
- no trolleys are proposed to service the supermarket
- click and collect internet shopping is no longer proposed
- the rear carpark wall design has been amended to provide “more visual interest”
- proposed walkways along Lennon Lane have been widened
- all new and existing doors and windows will be timber
- more canopy planting is proposed for the car park
- signage design has addressed Council concerns
- proposed car park and loading dock layout have been amended to clockwise flow with intention to improve safety and operational flow (with reduction in car parking spaces from 20 to 18)
Keeping you informed
We will keep you informed as more information comes to hand.
Best wishes to all, and please keep on supporting our great local shops and businesses.