anonymous-
Without trying to be the devils advocate, I think there is a lot of information going around in relation to Edmondson Park which has not been presented in a factual and clear manner. There are a number of points raised in the Community Meeting with Frasers and in the group where, while I can see the concerns, need to be presented in a logical well-thought out manner to even be considered productive in moving forward.
To summarise a few of the concerns and my thoughts:
1) School facilities in EP are not adequate. There seems to be a variety of concerns about whether there is going to be a school in Edmondson Park and if there is, there are concerns that it will be located in the Town Centre itself. Council and development controls requires schools and facilities to be built based on population density. The higher the population in an area, the more likely a school will be required. Given the density of Edmondson Park and not many schools in the area, a school of some sort is guaranteed. Onto the issue of whether it should be in the Town Centre or not - I can see both for and against arguments. Frasers would have an incentive to move the school into the Town Centre for a number of reasons including
A) The school is essentially funded by the council, so the contributions would in simple terms go to Frasers to construct the school (rather than the developer in the originally planned site). Contributions are made by all developers to the facilities around the area. If Frasers builds the school, essentially they will have access to some of those contributions
B) They could potentially (not saying they would) build more housing in the area as they are also helping build the school - basically you give some and take some
C) It will attract buyers into their development over other developments as it will be more attractive to sell a home with a station, shops and a school nearby
2) Carpark is inadequate. I can't see where everyone is getting information that it is inadequate from? If you look at the number of spots in the Town Centre and you research the number of council provided parking in Liverpool CBD, you'll find that Edmondson Park actually has more parking than Liverpool CBD. I can only imagine the community thinks there will not be adequate parking as the Edmondson Park Train Station is packed by 8am on weekdays. We need to keep the focus here on the Town Centre. Frasers is not responsible for parking around the train station. The car park is the responsibility of Sydney Trains. They should not have to provide parking for the lack of parking provided by Sydney Trains. If we're going to say there's not going to be enough parking, we need to support it with facts and examples. The lack of parking at the train station is not an example.
To summarise a few of the concerns and my thoughts:
1) School facilities in EP are not adequate. There seems to be a variety of concerns about whether there is going to be a school in Edmondson Park and if there is, there are concerns that it will be located in the Town Centre itself. Council and development controls requires schools and facilities to be built based on population density. The higher the population in an area, the more likely a school will be required. Given the density of Edmondson Park and not many schools in the area, a school of some sort is guaranteed. Onto the issue of whether it should be in the Town Centre or not - I can see both for and against arguments. Frasers would have an incentive to move the school into the Town Centre for a number of reasons including
A) The school is essentially funded by the council, so the contributions would in simple terms go to Frasers to construct the school (rather than the developer in the originally planned site). Contributions are made by all developers to the facilities around the area. If Frasers builds the school, essentially they will have access to some of those contributions
B) They could potentially (not saying they would) build more housing in the area as they are also helping build the school - basically you give some and take some
C) It will attract buyers into their development over other developments as it will be more attractive to sell a home with a station, shops and a school nearby
2) Carpark is inadequate. I can't see where everyone is getting information that it is inadequate from? If you look at the number of spots in the Town Centre and you research the number of council provided parking in Liverpool CBD, you'll find that Edmondson Park actually has more parking than Liverpool CBD. I can only imagine the community thinks there will not be adequate parking as the Edmondson Park Train Station is packed by 8am on weekdays. We need to keep the focus here on the Town Centre. Frasers is not responsible for parking around the train station. The car park is the responsibility of Sydney Trains. They should not have to provide parking for the lack of parking provided by Sydney Trains. If we're going to say there's not going to be enough parking, we need to support it with facts and examples. The lack of parking at the train station is not an example.
Regarding Carpark, i will not be moving in for another good one year. I have seen the carpark at EP station packed to a degree where the cars are parked on the kerb.... it is in-adequate! EP is not even 30% populated for what it will be and the situation of parking at EP station is horrendous. If we don't raise it now - no one will do anything about it!
I agree regarding the school - i will not be in favour of a school inside the town centre... whose idea was that!? We need a proper school set up properly on a dedicated pce of land like it should be with all the open sport facilities a school should have.
but how do we raise these concerns? Where do we raise them? Whose responsibility is it to answer - council/frasers/sydney trains?!?