New cycleway construction

June is the month when cycleway projects are built. For some reason Council staff seem to require all year to design cycleways so they are built at the very end of the financial year.

Here is a photo of the partly completed works in Waterloo Road just east of Herring Road, leading to Macquarie Uni. I will add some photos of others in coming days.

Graham Avenue footpath

A resident called me last week requesting that a short section of footpath be installed in Graham Avenue across the frontage of Jim Walsh Park. Council is currently installing kerb and gutter at this location and it would seem sensible to complete the footpath at the same time.

The location definitely needs a footpath. It is a missing link in the walking route from Wishart Street/Norma Avenue and feeder streets to Welby Street, which is the obvious walking route to Eastwood for a large number of residents. I visited the location yesterday, took some photographs and spoke to nearby residents.

Council staff acknowledge that a footpath is warranted and will present the matter for Council consideration in the September budgetary review.

Living next door to shops

A resident recently contacted me about Council notification procedures for people living next door to commercial premises. The resident lives at the interface between a residential area and a local shopping centre. He told me the shop next door was previously a computer repair business which caused no problem. Then without any warning the shop was converted to a catering business.

The catering business operates for longer hours (noise plus vehicle movements), has refrigeration equipment (24-hour noise) and on-site food preparation (odour). The resident has had to complain to Council a number of times about the impact of the business and wonders why he was never given a chance to comment before approval was given. Good question!

My inquiries revealed that Council's policy does not provide for neighbours to be notified when a business changes use. Consequently I submitted the following motion to Council at the meeting on 24 June which was carried unanimously:

(a) That where Council receives a development application for a premises in a business zone, including a change of use application, and the immediately adjoining premises is residential, the application be notified to the owner and occupant of the adjoining residence and any submission received be taken into account in assessing the application.
(b) That Council’s DCP be amended to formally incorporate this change at the next available opportunity.

Terrys Creek Water Pollution

There have been a number of pollution incidents in Terrys Creek over recent years, apparently emanating from the former brickworks site in the upper catchment. The former brickpit has been the subject of a major land remediation project to prepare it for housing development under the watch of Parramatta Council. When Ryde Council informed Parramatta of the pollution incidents Parramatta belatedly requested the developer to provide a water management plan aimed at preventing polluted runoff from this site.

The management plan has now been received but Parramatta refuses to allow Ryde Council or Ryde residents to see it. Why would we want to see it? Because Parramatta controls only a small portion of the upper catchment, the rest of the creek is in the City of Ryde. Just a few hundred metres from the brickpit the creek flows into Ryde Council's area and directly through Eastwood shopping centre where any pollution is immediately visible. Terrys Creek is the longest creek in the City of Ryde and a major tributary of the Lane Cove River.

Parramatta has told Ryde that the document would be 'considered for release' if Ryde makes a freedom of information request. How insulting!

This is just another example of why Parramatta Council should not control land within the Lane Cove River catchment. Parramatta’s focus is on the Parramatta CBD and the Parramatta River valley. Ryde and Hornsby Councils adequately manage the greater part of the Terrys Creek catchment without major incident. Terrys Creek would be the winner if it didn’t have this disinterested land manager squatting in its headwaters.

PS: Council staff subsequently managed to get a copy of the management plan by going directly to the site operator. No thanks to Parramatta!

Darvall Road traffic problems

I attended a meeting with residents of Darvall Road on 14 June to hear of the concerns with speeding traffic in this street between Rutledge Street and Victoria Road. Similar concerns a few years ago with the adjacent section of this road to the north led to installation of two roundabouts and double centreline marking.

Last April I presented a petition to Council from residents of the street. The matter was referred to the Traffic Committee in May and two residents were present to address the committee. As a result of that Council is to install traffic/speed counters at several locations in Darvall Road to understand the magnitude of the problem and assist with developing solutions. At the present time however there are barricades narrowing the road near a recent landslip and Energy Australia has also narrowed the road while cables are being installed. The counters should be delayed until these problems are rectified.

Residents have noted a number of locations where improvements such as roundabouts should be considered. Other matters raised include:

• speed and corner cutting in side streets connecting with Darvall Road;
• avoiding solutions that just transfer the problem to Brush Road;
• larger signs proclaiming the 3 tonne load limit;
• completion of missing footpath segments.

The matter will go back to the Traffic Committee in July for consideration.

Denistone Tennis Courts

I was approached by a resident who was concerned about a change in use of the local community tennis courts, located close to his residence. For many years the resident had lived beside the courts accepting the minor inconvenience from tennis games during daylight hours. However, in recent years the courts have been run as a coaching business with coaching continuing through to dark. Coaching can become annoying with many students on the court at the same time with shouted instructions.

As a result of resident submissions Council had offered a new lease to the operator with reduced hours to give residents some relief from coaching noise, but the operator would not sign the new lease and was continuing to operate as before. The matter came before Council last week and after hearing submissions from residents a compromise was reached. The tennis courts could continue to operate until dark for normal games, but coaching is required to stop at specified earlier times. The tennis association president and the coach were present and both accepted the compromise. Good result? Maybe. Lets see how it works over time.

Footpath woes

There is a section of footpath adjacent to Eastwood croquet club that collects water every time it rains. In an attempt to stay dry pedestrians step on the adjacent grass which quickly becomes muddy. Making things worse, this location is only about 150 mtres from the entrance to eastwood station, so it is very heavily used. I have drawn the matter to the attention of Council staff and received an assurance that the problem will be fixed in the near future.

21 Years

A few things have happened in the last month. Firstly an award to Yours Truly for suffering 21 years as a Ryde Councillor. It has been a pleasure and priviledge to represent local residents over this period and with your support I will continue to serve.