Battle lines have been drawn in a northern Sydney neighbourhood after a private school launched a controversial application to admit more students and build more parking spaces.
The Northern Beaches Council has been bombarded with letters from neighbours objecting to St Augustine’s College’s bid to increase its student body from 1200 to 1600 and extend parking.
“This is an outright NO NO NO!” one resident wrote in a submission to the council.
“With the current number of students/teachers/parents, the traffic management for both people and cars has been non-existent and shocking to say the least … To increase the number of students will only exacerbate an already horrible situation.”
Another said traffic congestion during school drop-off and pick-up hours was already at “nightmare” levels and worried the expansion would make it worse.
“Every school day there are near accidents, road rage, tooting, verbal abuse, brake squealing in near misses,” the woman wrote.
The Brookvale boy’s school, which charges $18,100 annually for year 11 and 12 students, said in its application the proposed car parks would only be used during school hours and special evening events.
Being allowed to admit more students was necessary because the school had already exceeded its enrolment cap, it said.
The school acknowledged in its application the works could be noisy and dusty but said those issues could be mitigated.
“The proposal is therefore supported,” the school wrote.
Among the dozens of neighbours objecting to the proposal was a 99-year-old woman who said her family had lived on the block for more than 70 years.
“The proposed plan has a driveway directly next to our fence which will clearly impact on our privacy,” she wrote.
“Our quality of life, our privacy and the impact of this plan on us … is leaving us to wonder if residents have as much right as a school.”
A St Augustine‘s spokeswoman said the school would await a response from the council to the community submissions.
“At that point we may be able to address any concerns raised from the DA, and to understand any further measures the council wishes us to take to minimise disruptions at drop off and pick up times,” she said.
“The college has been on its current site since 1956, and our students live in the local community; we are a northern beaches school serving northern beaches families.
“As part of the DA, the college and council are currently discussing an increase in our enrolment cap, to cater for the increase in student population on the northern beaches.”
The spokeswoman said the school had already enrolled more than 1200 students, sparking the request to increase the cap.
“The college has exceeded the enrolment cap, hence we have started negotiations with council to have the cap reflective of current numbers to meet the demands of local students,” she said.
