COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

UPDATE 23RD MAY 2024

Good Evening Community,

It has been a while since we have updated you. We have been busy ensuring that our final plans present the best possible outcome for the community, taking on board your feedback. In particular, you will notice that we have moved the staff carpark in response to concerns regarding noise to our neighbours across the road.

Our DA will be lodged either tomorrow or Monday, at which point you will be able to access the full detail, but in acknowledgement of the fact that site access and road safety is the most important issue, we provide tonight this link to our plans for your perusal.

We are available to answer any and all questions, so please do not hesitate to reach out.

Our mandate to the team was that this stretch of road was to become safer (even with our increased traffic) than it is now so that the whole community benefits from our road works. We believe we have found this solution, and welcome your feedback.

We look forward to becoming a very positive part of the Valley community.

Marj & the High Trees Team

We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all who attended our ideas incubation day on 25th February 2024. What we really heard on the day was a fatigue in the community for new people coming in and trying to change what is known and loved, a fatigue at having to fight against unwanted change, a fear that our arrival would impact upon the peace and tranquillity of the Valley.

We also heard messages of hope and positivity for an educational offering which presents an alternative to what is currently available for the many families who are seeking it.  One which has a wonderful vision for future generations of children in and around the Valley.

To those who fear us, we seek to work with you to improve our relationship with you, and to prove our integrity to you.  To those who welcome us, we are excited to walk this journey with you, with respect and contribution to the beautiful Currumbin Valley community as one of our foundational values.

Once we have developed our enhanced set of plans, taking on board the feedback received, we look forward to sharing them with you

In the interim, we would like to break down the concerns which have been raised: what we heard from our community, ideas which were put forward, and some proposals we have for moving forward, while addressing concerns.  This is intended to be a fluid part of the website which we will keep updated as new information is brought forward, and new ideas are shared.  Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us should you have any ideas or views you wish to express. It takes a community of ideas to reach the best possible outcome, and we are so open to hearing them.

The concerns we heard were : 

Road Safety

Concerns Raised : The stretch of Currumbin Creek Road where we propose locating High Trees Primary is already unsafe with vehicles travelling above the speed limit around a blind corner, thus it would be unsafe to bring more traffic to this already dangerous stretch of road.  The access to Currumbin Creek Road from 940 Currumbin Creek Road and properties across the road would become even more unsafe if High Trees was to locate itself there.  Access to the property from the blind corner coming from the West would be too dangerous.  Even with a 40km/hour school zone, you can’t rely on people adhering to it.

Suggested Solutions : Our commitment to the community is that the stretch of road will become safer, even with our increased traffic, than it currently is.  That is our mandate to the traffic experts and engineers, and something we feel very passionately about.  We simply cannot tolerate anything other than an improved safety result for the community from our arrival.  We will share on this page the drawings of the solution our expert advisors will be recommending to Council.  Our focus lies on ensuring safe access to 940 Currumbin Creek Road without causing additional safety risk for vehicles travelling along Currumbin Creek Road.  We aim to actually improve safety along this stretch of road, including for neighbouring property access, and will consider a suitable design and range of initiatives to achieve that. We believe that enhancements to this stretch of road are imperative irrespective of High Trees’ status as they serve to improve the overall safety and welfare of our community.  There was a suggestion to put speed cameras into this section of road.  We think this is a great option to consider and will speak to council about the possibility of providing these during our DA process.  We will also review options to put up mirrors on both sides of the road to improve visibility, as well as the road widening and visibility improvement plans mentioned above. In particular, we are looking at how we can lengthen the left-in lane and/or improve the access to ensure that vehicles enter the site quickly to alleviate potential risk for vehicles passing from the upper Valley.  We agree that we cannot control the speed at which people travel, but moving from 60 to 40 during peak traffic times is certainly likely to reduce speed overall, even if not down to 40 itself.  Our traffic analysis does not assume motorists will abide by the 40km/hr zone, but that it will cause people  to slow from current speeds, which can only benefit all in the community.  Acknowledging the existing behaviours, our traffic consultants and engineers are designing to the higher speed to ensure that the access is safe.  As a learning environment based on community spirit, we will be committed to ensuring that our neighbours do not have compromised access to their properties as a result of our arrival.

Road Works

Concerns Raised : There have been what feels like a constant stream of roadworks on Currumbin Creek Road for years now, and people have had enough of being held up by these, and don’t want to see more.  

Suggested Solutions :  A road cannot be made safe without roadworks, so we do hope that you will bear with us while we improve a road which needs to be improved regardless of whether High Trees exists or not.  We will do our best to work with the community on this and will be looking at construction programming and initiatives which seek to minimise disruption.

Traffic

Concerns Raised : Increased traffic causing inconvenience.  Traffic queueing on Currumbin Creek Road causing congestion and danger.

Suggested Solutions : High Trees does not anticipate that our presence will attract more than 50 additional vehicle trips in the morning and afternoon peak hours.  This is a minor increase of ~5% on existing traffic volumes.  We are committed to thinking outside the box, and being open to creative solutions within our parent community, and the broader Currumbin Valley community, to reduce our traffic impact in any way we can.  Note that we have not taken into consideration any reductions in traffic which may occur from parents within the Valley bringing their children to High Trees where currently they are driving them further, to other schools. 

We acknowledge that increased traffic is a concern for residents, and as such are looking at a range of initiatives to reduce our impact, including: 

• We are looking at the most effective way to provide bus services, whether it be providing a direct bus, facilitating common pick up and collection for a school bus service at appropriate locations to reduce traffic coming into the Valley, or even supporting a government run bus service proposal if this is what the community desires.

• We will lead and facilitate a community carpooling initiative.

• We will investigate staggering our start and finish times amongst different age groups.  The benefit of this being that the traffic is spread out and congestion potentially better managed, the downside is that while reduced, the period of increased traffic is prolonged. 

We are keen to hear views on the benefits and drawbacks of each. 

We also highlight that, unlike CVSS where cars do need to queue up and park on public roads during drop off and pick up, we will have a ~200m loop road within the confines of 940 Currumbin Creek Road which will allow for traffic to move quickly off the road and queue within the property rather than on the road itself, and will prevent the need for parents to park outside neighbouring properties if they do come to site.  Several interested families were present on the day, and indicated that their passion for this style of education is such that they will do what the community wants of them in order to reduce traffic, whether this be using a bus or carpooling.  We know that the parents who want to send their children to High Trees will be like minded, and thus they too will have concerns about their footprint on this stunning part of the world, and be willing to commit to solutions which reduce this as much as possible.  

On-Site Parking

Concerns : The aesthetics of putting a staff car park on site, and whether we will have enough spaces. 

Possible Solutions : We share this concern re aesthetics and have commissioned our eco-aware architects (both structural and landscape) to make sure that we greenscape the carparks so that they are not visible from the road, but rather present with beautiful green screening.  This foliage will not only help with aesthetics, but in reduction of emissions.  We will share our plans as to the final number of car spaces, but assure the community that Council will not approve a DA which does not provide for sufficient spaces.

Acoustic

Concerns : People moved into the beautiful Valley for peace, quiet and tranquillity.  People shift working, and working from home, are concerned about the noise.  The point was made several times that the Valley can be a bowl of noise.

Possible Solutions : Our acoustic specialist pointed out to us that a large lawn mower is actually noisier than a mainstream primary school, and our intention is to be significantly quieter than that.  High Trees will not have bells, speakers, or alarm systems which can be found in mainstream educational settings.  In fact every time we visit our mentor school, Woodline Primary, we are taken by how peaceful it is, even during the noisiest times of lunch and sports.  We intend to be the same, with our children being taught to show deep respect for our neighbours in all that they do.  Of course we are not in denial, there will be periods of the day where play will be heard.  We hope in time this can be seen to be a joyous sound rather than a disruptive one.  

That said, our acoustic specialists are working closely with the project architects, and the High Trees Board, to ensure that the design and operation of High Trees not only complies with noise criteria, but exceeds it, to ensure that the peaceful amenity of nearby residents is maintained.  Location of access, parking, and activity areas are being carefully considered together with acoustic screening which will be located and designed in a way which will be of most benefit to our neighbours, and blend in with the natural landscape.  Our objective is to employ natural solutions, including planting vegetation and utilising eco-friendly materials, to address the noise concerns. We will be taking into account the placement of all surrounding residences, and hope to work with you so that we can self-police our success on this score.   

Setting a Precedent

Concerns : Our approval will set a precedent for other schools to follow in our footsteps.

Possible Solutions : Approval of High Trees Primary will only happen if we ensure that we can operate without unreasonably impacting on amenity and rural character.  As mentioned, we are working hard to ensure that traffic, noise amenity, visual amenity, environmental sustainability and rural character will be managed to an exceptionally high standard.  Of comfort, our town planners advise that there is no such thing as ‘precedent’ whereby the door is opened to numerous other projects simply because a school is approved.  Each proposal must be considered on its merits and would have to address these same impacts and considerations, and would be open to public scrutiny and objection as is the case with High Trees.  The tests under City Plan are rigorous, and poorly conceived proposals which are inappropriate in the Valley would not comply.  Even approval of High Trees Primary (should it occur) will be strictly limited to a suitable scale and design by conditions of approval.

Not wanted in the community

Concerns : We have been arrogant enough to bring our dream to a community which doesn’t want us.

Possible Solutions : As residents of Currumbin, and passionate lovers of the Valley, we did, and do, view ourselves as locals.  That said, we actually view Southern Gold Coast / Northern NSW as our community, with all of us as locals to each other’s particular patch.  We want to assure that before progressing with this enormous undertaking, we did speak to multiple families within Currumbin, and specifically the Valley, to sound out whether there was a desire for what we wanted to bring.  We saw High Trees as a beautiful gift to the community.  We heard at our community event that many don’t see us that way.  We will work tirelessly to change that view through our actions.  We have been inundated with expressions of interest from families who are incredibly grateful to have an educational offering such as High Trees become a potential option for their children.  Many of these families are from within the Valley, several are homeschooling for want of a more aligned offering for their family, yet report a real impact on the balance within the family unit in the lack of ‘down time’ which can result.  The arrival of High Trees will address a community need.

We heard from many that our approach to the community should have come sooner.  We acknowledge this.  Prior to undertaking our community engagement session, we needed to ensure that our expert specialists could in the first instance satisfy us, and in the second instance enable us to make informed commitments to the community such as making our section of the road safer than it currently is, and many more beyond.

Zoning / State Vs Local Road

Concerns : We are seeking to come into a quiet community not appropriately zoned for what we propose.  A question was asked as to who owned the section of Currumbin Creek Road on which 940 Currumbin Creek Road falls.

Possible Solutions : 940 Currumbin Creek Road falls in a rural zoning, not residential zoning.  In the Rural Zone the land could be used for farming, rural industries, bulk landscape supplies, community uses, and the like.  It would be permitted that tractors and heavy machinery could run all day on the land for a primary producer, or that significant traffic would be generated by staff and customers of a landscape supplies business for example.  We seek to be a quiet, nature based learning environment which encourages in the children a connection to community, and the land.  A learning environment dedicated to encouraging passionate warriors of the earth, respectful citizens driven to protect the beauty of Currumbin Valley for generations to come. We intend to manage impacts of traffic, noise, and rural amenity to complement the surrounding area, not detract from it. 

Currumbin Creek Road is a state road up until Tomewin Mountain Road, thereafter it is local Council road.

We thank you for hearing our response to your concerns, and look forward to continuing to engage.

With thanks,

High Trees Primary.