Wagga City Council to debate Turvey Park childcare centre plans

Controversial plans for the two-storey childcare centre at 32 Halloran Street in Turvey Park were first submitted to Wagga City Council earlier this year.

At a meeting in May, councillors debated the development application for the $894,300 centre, before voting down the project five votes to three.

Insufficient information on the car park design, car park safety and compliance concerns, site constraints and issues over stormwater drainage were listed as concerns.

An amended development application was lodged with the council in July, with the developers asking for a review of the refusal decision.

A report, authored by the council's city development manager Paul O'Brien, to be tabled at Monday night's council meeting said the revised DA included additional information and minor amendments to the proposal.

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The review application was publicly advertised for 14 days, prompting a total of 20 submissions opposing the development. Twelve of those 20 opponents had already made their concerns known as part of the 48 submissions to the original plans.

Mr O'Brien said the grounds of objection remained "generally the same as those made to the original development application".

Any application that receives 10 or more objections must be referred to councillors for determination and councillors will consider the review on Monday night.

Mr O'Brien has recommended, based on supporting information provided and the findings of a development assessment, that the original refusal determination be changed and the application be approved subject to conditions.

The revised application includes minor modifications to the design of the building, including an increase in the finished floor level to ensure it is not inundated during an overland flood event, and better stormwater management.

The council's assessors also sought an amendment to the car park layout, in the form of a turning bay and a reduction in the number of parking spaces, to improve manoeuvrability.

The turning bay would allow cars to safely exit the site, if there were no available parking spaces, without the need to reverse out into Halloran Street.

Mr O'Brien said in response to the reduction in parking spaces, the applicants had agreed to reduce the maximum number of children from the originally proposed 46 places to 44, so the development remained compliant.

The site is zoned general residential but centre-based childcare facilities are permitted with consent in such zones.

The proposed centre is close to Turvey Park Public School, but a traffic impact report lodged as part of the application said the development would not have any adverse impacts on the local road network.

"Peak drop-off and pick-up times at the primary school differ to those at a childcare centre," the report said.

"The street is subject to low volumes of vehicle movement and can accommodate the additional modelled car trips with no detrimental impact upon levels of service at nearby intersections."

The proposed centre's Sydney-based developer, Darren White, said they were confident with the amendment but the decision for approval was ultimately up to the councillors.

"We're hopeful, we've always just wanted the council and councillors to look at the development application for its merits and hopefully we have provided enough information for this review that they will see that we've responded well and give it the thumbs up," Mr White said.

If approved, two existing currently-occupied dwellings will be demolished at the site.

"It is tenanted so we have to wait for that to run out and then there's a bit of work to do to get it ready to be constructed, but we would be looking to move as quickly as possible," Mr White said.

If approved, the centre would operate from 7am to 6pm weekdays, catering for children aged between zero and five, and employing up to 12 staff on any given day.

Mr White said the decision to develop a childcare centre in Wagga was made due to the high demand for more services.

"We understand there is a huge need for childcare in Wagga and when you look at the population, and how it is projected to grow over the coming years, services like these are going to be needed," he said.

"We were looking for an appropriate site, the zoning had to be correct - it was a thousand square metre site and close to the school there which is what you want so, there were a few things that drew us to this site."

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