Minutes of Extraordinary Local Traffic Committee Meeting

BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

Extraordinary Local Traffic Committee Meeting Minutes 12 August 2022

MINUTES of the Extraordinary Local Traffic Committee Meeting held on Friday, 12 August 2022

File No: I2022/1009

PRESENT:

Councillor: Michael Lyon (arrived at 10.45am)

NSW Police: Detective Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe

Staff: James Flockton, Judd Cornwall, Rachel Barnden, Renan Solatan, Jeff Begovic, Gray Blundell, Phil Holloway (acting Chairperson), Shelley Flower

Apologies:

Siobhan Foley on behalf of Tamara Smith MP (comments provided)

Transport for NSW: John Carey (comments provided)

Staff: Evan Elford

Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of interest raised. or

Adoption of Minutes from Previous Meetings

Committee Recommendation:

That the minutes of the Local Traffic Committee Meeting held on 14 June 2022 and Extraordinary Local Traffic Committee Meeting held on 14 July 2022 be confirmed.

(Lyon/Kehoe)

The recommendation was put to the vote via email after the meeting and declared carried.

Matters Arising

None.

Outstanding Issues/Resolutions

None.

Recommendation:

That the order of business be changed as shown below.

Development Applications

Report No. 6.3 DA10.2021.827.1 - Byron Bay Markets (Proposed Road Closures for Monthly Sunday Market)

File No: I2022/1020

Summary

This report seeks approval for the temporary road closure of Jonson St next to Railway Park, between Marvell and Byron Streets for Byron Community Market held once a month and fortnightly in December and January.

Development application (DA) 10.2021.827.1 seeks approval to relocate the Byron Community Market from Main Beach foreshore to within the railway corridor, Railway Park, and Jonson Street Road Reserve, Byron Bay.

The proposal includes a temporary road closure of Jonson St next to Railway Park, between Marvell and Byron Streets, to vehicles on monthly market days and the use of the western section of the Butler Street Reserve for stall holder parking.

The markets will operate between 8am and 3pm, with bump-in and bump-out movements occurring before and after this time. The market holds up to 300 stalls, associated market management and facilities.

A review of the supporting documentations of the DA concludes that the relocation of the Market and the temporary road closure of Jonson St next to Railway Park, between Marvell and Byron Streets will produce minor impact to Traffic and Parking in the surrounds.

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

That Council approves the temporary road closure of Jonson St next to Railway Park, between Marvell and Byron Streets between 5am and 5pm.

BACKGROUND

Byron markets are currently held on the 1st Sunday of every month, using the Dening Park Reserve as a temporary location. The markets are also held every 3rd Sunday from December through January. During the temporary relocation, the market reduced in size to a maximum of 290 stalls.

The development application seeks to increase in size to 300 stalls upon relocation to the Railway Precinct. The markets operate between 8am and 3pm, with bump-in and bump-out movements occurring before and after this time.

Site Plan

Parking

The proposal requires 750 parking spaces to cater for 300 market stalls based on Council’s DCP 2014 parking rates at 1 parking space per 2.5 stalls.

The existing market is located in Dening Park Reserve and utilises the existing road and parking infrastructures in the surrounds.

The new site is located approximately 400m southwest of the existing site and proposes to utilise the existing parking infrastructures in the surrounds.

A parking survey was conducted by Planit Consulting to verify the availability and utilisation of parking within the surrounds during a Market Sunday and a non-Market Sunday to offset parking requirement of the DA. The peak period surveyed ranged from 8:00-11:00am to all carparks within 800m radius. See table 1 and table 2 for the tabulated results of the survey.

Table 1 - Market Sunday

Table 2 – non-Market Sunday

The survey results in Table 1 and Table 2 found that there is less than a 10% fluctuation in parking demand between market Sunday and non-market Sunday and the total parking spaces available were not all utilised, rather the typical demand for parking was approximately 60%, leaving availability of approximately 40%, which is sufficient for day-to-day operation of a CBD as an occupancy of approximately 85% or below is ideal.

The car parking locations in the survey were assessed to verify practicality for market patrons to walk between the parking areas and the Market. The assessment found that Lawson St carpark with 166 parking spaces is approximately 1 km away, Lawson St (South Carpark) with 100 spaces is utilised by market stalls and the Jonson St parking with 142 spaces only have 50% parking spaces available as 50% is utilised by market stalls. These parking areas were discounted with a total reduction of 337 spaces.

The revised available parking in the surrounds is 752 spaces. This equates to 380 spaces utilised at 8AM, 429 spaces at 9am, 511 spaces at 10AM and 558 spaces at 11AM.

The revised parking supply complies with the parking supply requirement in Council’s DCP.

Traffic

The parking demand is directly proportional to the traffic generated by the Markets. The recorded parking utilization increase between a Market and non-market Sunday is 10% and the current parking demand is lesser than the available parking spaces. The traffic generated by the Markets generates will generally merge into the existing traffic stream with minimal impact to the surrounding road infrastructure network.

Traffic Management Plan

The traffic management plan plays an integral part of the proposal to manage pedestrian & vehicular traffic and market operations.

The following recommendations are proposed:

· The provision of additional entries to the markets is advised. The more entry points, the less congestion at a single entry point

· Waiting bays are advised close to the markets to be used for overflow vehicles and for those ready to enter the site but without a parking space

· Stall holders should load in at different times. Staggering the stall holder arrivals reduces congestion

· Stall holders should park off-site where possible, with allocated parking for the stall holders to be made available nearby such as at the western end of Butler Street Reserve.

· During peak times of the market, traffic should be directed to take a longer route to access the site, resulting in less congestion closer to the site

In addition to the above, it is proposed to prepare a pedestrian access management plan (PAMP) specific to the proposed market site. The PAMP is to be supported with Guidance Scheme designed in accordance with Transport for New South Wales

Development Application Conditions

A Traffic Management Plan (TMP) and associated Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS) in accordance with the requirements of the current version of the Transport for NSW Traffic Control at Work Sites Technical Manual for traffic control for the temporary road closure and PAMP will be conditions recommended for the development consent for approval pursuant to Section 138 of the Roads Act 1993 prior to each event. Attachment 1 (E2021/149504) is a copy of a TGS for the road closure. The TMP will be reported back to the LTC once lodged.

LTC Advice Required

The LTC is requested to provide comment on whether the TMP & TGS required as conditions of development consent must be submitted to LTC prior to each event for endorsement.

Committee Comments

Transport for NSW:

1. The markets are likely to be seen as a significant disruption to traffic flow on Jonson St, especially if the full width carriageway is closed. While not a state road, community expectation may see/dictate that the road remain open (subject to TCP/traffic management). The proposal must be advertised and I would suggest for 28 days to gauge full community sentiment.

2. I am not in favour of recurring full road closures on a monthly basis (very unusual in my experience). Partial road closures to allow traffic flow past site – yes. Full closure – no.

3. Loss of parking opposite Railway Park is likely to draw objections from those landowners/occupiers.

4. I understand there may be seen to be a desire to draw such markets as an event to the centre of Byron Bay, but should be balanced with traffic flow and amenity impacts.

5. Subject to comment from NSW Police.

6. The location is on a small area – perhaps the scale/size of the event is too big for the available area.

7. I don’t agree that a standing road closure approval be granted and that the TMP/TCPs/TGS be submitted on a monthly basis for review.

8. If the markets are to proceed, that the proposal be trialled for a period of say 6 months – give the market day frequency will increase later in the year – to gauge community sentiment and any feedback.

9. Unable to comment on TMP/TCPs as copies were not provided.

NSW Police:

1. NSW Police note Transport’s comments and similarly have concerns about the traffic impacts with the closure of Jonson Street and perhaps the traffic can be monitored and reviewed after a period or 3 – 6 months.

Committee Recommendation:

That Council support:

1. The temporary road closure in principle to facilitate the Byron Community Markets and to allow the Development Application to be considered; and

2. Further reporting to the Local Traffic Committee prior to first event and annually thereafter.

(Lyon/Kehoe)

The recommendation was put to the vote via email after the meeting and declared carried.

Report No. 6.2 Byron Writers Festival 2022 - TMP

File No: I2022/984

Committee Comments

Siobhan Foley: Tamara supports the recommendations for the Byron Writers Festival.

Transport for NSW:

1. The 10kph shared zone to increase pedestrian safety won’t meet requirements. Use R/W 40 or similar if needed.

2. Is the Bayshore Drive roundabout at Grevillea Street or Ewingsdale Road?

3. TfNSW do not approve the 10kph zone from the car park entry to the end of Bayshore Drive as 10kph zones can’t be installed outside of correctly constructed shared zones. Suggest the R/W 40 be used and extended up from roundabout.

Management Comments

Response to TfNSW comment 2 above - Ewingsdale Road.

Committee Recommendation:

SUMMARY

A Traffic Management Plan (TMP) and associated Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS) has been submitted to Council for the 2022 Byron Writers Festival to be held at “Elements of Byron” at 144 Bayshore Drive, Byron Bay – refer Attachment 1.

The festival dates are from Friday 26th August to Sunday 28th August 2022. The maximum number of patrons is 2,800 per day plus 200 per day for staff, volunteers & contractors, and speakers.

The festival was originally to be held at the North Byron Parklands Cultural Event Site in Yelgun this year, however due to the wet weather and condition of the grounds, the event has been moved to Elements of Byron. Local Traffic Committee considered the traffic management arrangements for the event at North Byron Parklands at its meeting of 14 June 2022.

The traffic management arrangements for the event requires reconsideration of the Local Traffic Committee and approval by Council due to its relocation to Elements of Byron.

BACKGROUND

The event site is located at the end of Bayshore Drive. The traffic to the site will be via the Bayshore Drive Roundabout on Ewingsdale Road. The last Writers Festival at this location was approved by the Local Traffic Committee in 2020. No changes have been introduced to this year’s TMP and TGS. The 2020 and 2021 events were cancelled due to Covid-19.

DEVELOPMENT CONSENT

A S4.55 modification application has been lodged to amend the development consent 10.2016.251.3 to enable this year’s Writersfest to operate from the Elements Site again. Development consent was previously issued to enable the site to be used for the Writersfest up to 2020. The 2020 event however was cancelled due to Covid - 19 Restrictions. The organisers had been planning for a number of months to move the event to North Byron Parklands, however following this year’s Splendour in the Grass Event, it became apparent that the site was not suitable nor available for the Writersfest.

At the time of writing this report (8/08/2022) the S4.55 assessment is currently under assessment having been only recently submitted. Due to time constraints and noting general sentiment from the elected Council to assist such development, the TMP and TGS is put forward for LTC consideration prior to the amendment being finalised. Condition 14A of development consent 10.2016.251.3 requires a Traffic Management Plan to be approved under S138 of the Roads Act 1993.

The condition states:

14A) Section 138 Roads Act 1993 - Traffic Management Plan

Prior to each event, consent from Council must be obtained for a Traffic Management Plan pursuant to Section 138 of the Roads Act 1993. The plans and specifications are to include the measures to be employed to control traffic during the operation of the event (including bump in and bump out phases). The traffic control plan is to be designed in accordance with the requirements of the latest version of Roads and Traffic Authority’s Manual, Traffic Control at Work Sites, and the current Australian Standards, Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices Part 3, ‘Traffic Control Devices for Works on Roads’.

The plan must incorporate measures to ensure that motorists using road adjacent to the development, residents and pedestrians in the vicinity of the development are subjected to minimal time delays due to construction on the site or adjacent to the site.

The traffic control plan must be prepared by a suitably qualified and RMS accredited Work Site Traffic Controller.

The condition is unlikely to change and the TMP has been submitted under the Roads Act in accordance with the consent condition.

IMPACTS

Pedestrian:

It is proposed to retain pedestrian traffic within the parking area as much as possible and provide a pedestrian road crossing over the existing drain opposite the site entry.

North of the car park entrance, Bayshore Drive is proposed to be a 10km/hr Shared Zone to increase pedestrian safety.

See Drawing No. J1200_TGS005 & J1200_TGS006 (pages 8 & 9 of Attachment 1) for details.

Parking:

No changes are proposed to car park entrance.

Bus drop off area is proposed at the end of Bayshore Dr within the cul-de-sac.

A dedicated taxi and Uber drop off area is proposed within the car park area located at the SE corner of the car park.

People With Disabilities (PWD) parking is proposed within the Share Zone location.

See Drawing No. J1200_TGS006 (page 9 of Attachment 1) for details.

Bayshore Drive roundabout

The TGS directs traffic exiting the site and heading for Byron Town Centre to turn left into Sunrise Blvd. This helps to reduce congestion at the Bayshore Dr Roundabout. A VMS board located at Sunrise Blvd intersection is proposed to direct this traffic.

Traffic heading west along Ewingsdale Rd from Byron Town Centre is directed to turn right at the Bayshore Dr Roundabout. As a contingency, it is recommended that if significant traffic congestion occurs at the Bayshore Drive Roundabout with east bound traffic backing up towards The Farm and the Motorway then west bound traffic arriving from Byron Town Centre is to be directed towards the event via Sunrise Blvd. This is expected to relieve some traffic congestion at the Bayshore Drive Roundabout.

See Drawing No. J1200_TGS002 & J1200_TGS003 (pages 5 & 6 of Attachment 1) for details.

Speed zones

Following Council's recommendations, a 40km/h speed zone from the rail crossing to the car park entrance on Bayshore Drive, and 10km/h from the car park entry to the end of Bayshore Drive will be implemented.

The latter is expected to improve the pedestrian safety on Bayshore Drive in the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing. These speed zones are depicted on the attached Traffic Control Plans.

See Drawing No. J1200_TGS004 (pages 7 of Attachment 1) for details.

Traffic Guidance Scheme (TGS)

The TGS in Attachment 1 generally reflects the above comments, however the following recommendations are made:

· The TMP be amended to document, the persons who are authorised to change the TGS on the day for unforeseen circumstances.

· Implement the TGS between Thursday to Sunday as the minimum time frame.

· The TGS be amended to include west bound event traffic arriving from Byron Town Centre is to be directed down Sunrise Blvd, as a contingency, if east bound traffic on Ewingsdale Rd is queued back to the Hospital Roundabout.

COUNCIL IMPLICATIONS

§ Budget/Financial

All traffic control costs are to be borne by the event organisers.

§ Asset Management

Not applicable.

§ Consultation

A condition of the endorsement of this event is that appropriate consultation is undertaken, including:

1. Advertising the impact of the event in the local newspaper and on the Council website.

2. Informing community and business that are directly impacted.

3. Liaising with bus and taxi operators.

4. Consulting with emergency services.

§ Legal and Risk Management

If vehicles cause congestion on Bayshore Drive, then this could directly impact a Regional Road – Ewingsdale Road. Transport for NSW Traffic Engineering Department requires separate approval of the TMP and TGS.

RECOMMENDATION:

1. That Council endorse the submitted Traffic Management Plan and considers the Traffic Guidance Scheme to be fit for purpose for the Byron Bay Writers Festival on 26-28 August 2022.

2. That the approval is subject to:

a. Separate approvals by NSW Police and Transport for NSW being obtained.

b. The Traffic Guidance Scheme is to operate Thursday 25th August to Sunday 28^th August.

c. The Traffic Guidance Scheme be amended to include west bound event traffic arriving from Byron Town Centre is to be directed down Sunrise Blvd, as a contingency, if east bound traffic on Ewingsdale Rd is queued back to the Hospital Roundabout.

d. The Traffic Management Plan be amended to document, the persons who are authorised to change the TGS on the day for unforeseen circumstances.

e. The Traffic Guidance Scheme to be implemented by those with relevant and current Transport for NSW training and accreditation.

f. That the speed limit be amended from 10kph to 40kph from north of the car park entry to the end of Bayshore Drive.

3. That the event organiser must:-

a. Advertise the impact of the event via a notice in the local weekly paper a minimum of one week prior to the operational impacts taking effect. The notification must include the event name, specifics of any traffic impacts or road closures and times, alternative route arrangements, event organiser, a personal contact name and a telephone number for all event related enquiries or complaints,

b. Notify the public of event details on Council’s webpage. Details to be supplied to Council by the event organisers,

c. Undertake consultation with community and affected businesses including adequate response/action to any concerns raised,

d. Undertake consultation with emergency services and any identified issues addressed including emergency vehicle access,

e. Hold $20m public liability insurance cover which is valid for the event.

4. That the signs and devices necessary to effect the traffic management changes (including all regulatory signage) also be approved.

(Lyon/Kehoe)

The recommendation was put to the vote via email after the meeting and declared carried.

Regulatory Matters

Report No. 6.1 Proposed Accessible Parking Bay - Jonson St, Byron Bay

File No: I2022/916

This matter has been brought to Council on several occasions by a member of the Public. On investigation it was found that there is no provision for people with mobility disability on Jonson Street on the eastern side of the road, between Marvel Street and Browning Street, Byron Bay (refer to figure 1).

There is opportunity to install a single accessible angle parking bay on the corner of Jonson St and Carlyle St, as shown in figure 2 below. The proposed location is currently two hour paid parking, revenue from this parking space brings in approximately $6,570 per year.

Figure 1: Accessible parking mapping focus area

Figure 2: Proposed accessible bay location (Left), Bay design concept only (right)

Committee Comments

Siobhan Foley:

This matter has been brought to Council on several occasions by a member of the public. On investigation it was found that there is no provision for people with mobility disability on Jonson Street on the eastern side of the road, between Marvell Street and Browning Street, Byron Bay. Tamara supports this item.

Transport for NSW:

1. TfNSW supports the proposal in principle, subject to voting members being provided with a signage and markings plans for concurrence,

2. If Google Streetview 2019 incorrectly depicts the edgeline marked as “*” and C3, and it has been corrected to be a white line, as per the edgeline linetype “E1”, no concerns. C3 line is not to be used as defacto edgelines in these instances as it allows vehicles to park “behind” it, despite the presence of “No Stopping” signs.

3. Dimension “+” should be greater than or equal to 10m. Show on signs and markings plan.

Committee Recommendation:

That the Local Traffic Committee endorses the installation of an accessible parking space adjacent 103 Jonson Street, Byron Bay as per Attachment 1.

(Lyon/Kehoe)

The recommendation was put to the vote via email after the meeting and declared carried.

There being no further business the meeting concluded at 11.31am.

ATTACHMENT 1

Venue	Conference Room, Station Street, Mullumbimby
Date	Friday, 12 August 2022
Time	10.30am