Presentation notes - Petra Stock Zoo with slide shots...Slide1.&!! Introduce&myself! Good!morning.!!...
Transcript of Presentation notes - Petra Stock Zoo with slide shots...Slide1.&!! Introduce&myself! Good!morning.!!...
Slide 1.
Introduce myself Good morning. My name is Petra Stock. I am an environmental engineer with over a decade of experience in planning and environmental approvals and consultation, for major infrastructure projects in Victoria as well as interstate and in New Zealand. I have experience on major road projects, such as the Pakenham Bypass, the Calder Freeway, Melba Freeway and Barwon Heads Bridge Options, as well as on airport runway and quarry extensions, gas plants and wind farms. The combined value of projects I have worked on when implemented would be well over $3 billion. Why am I interested in the Melbourne Zoo? A significant catalyst for me becoming interested in environmental issues, and eventually becoming an environmental engineer was going to the Adelaide and Melbourne Zoos when I was very little. I am now a mum of two kids who share my love of the zoo. My concerns about the impacts of the proposed East West Link on the Melbourne Zoo stem from my direct knowledge and experience as someone who visits the zoo on an almost weekly basis, and my understanding of the risks posed to the zoo based on my professional background and reading of the CIS. I am certainly not alone in loving the Melbourne Zoo. My family are but four, of an astonishing 150,000 zoo members. The yearly and significant bequests received by the zoo also illustrate people’s affection for the Melbourne Zoo, even in considering their final wishes. Zoo’s Victoria’s also boasts 700 regular volunteers. I submit that many Victorians love the Zoo, but none will love this tollway.
Change.org petition Our concerns for that the zoo was being overlooked, led myself and my friend and fellow zoo member Katrina Gill to petition Jenny Grey, Zoos Victoria CEO and the LMA for rigorous assessment of the proposed East West Link. Our petition sought assessment of potential impacts from the project: on the animals, on visitors’ experience and on the zoo’s reputation. In responding to questions about zoo impacts Linking Melbourne Authority confidently asserted and continues to assert there would be no direct or significant impacts on the zoo or its animals. When Katrina and I presented our petition to Kevin Tanner and Jaquie O’Brien from the Zoo in late October we were surprised to learn that despite supposedly “working closely with LMA” the Zoo knew no more than we did about what the project’s Comprehensive Impact Statement would contain and like us, awaited its public release. http://www.change.org/en-‐AU/petitions/jenny-‐gray-‐chief-‐executive-‐officer-‐zoos-‐victoria-‐insist-‐on-‐rigorous-‐investigation-‐into-‐the-‐impacts-‐of-‐the-‐east-‐west-‐link-‐on-‐the-‐melbourne-‐zoo Attachment – petition and comments As we all know, the CIS was released 31 October. I have read the main document, and all of the accompanying technical studies, as well as the LMA’s response to the committee’s request for information. Disappointingly, and I believe unacceptably, these documents contain no detail about impacts on the zoo, certainly no assessment of animal welfare or impacts on visitors and nothing to support LMA’s claim of no direct or significant impacts.
Slide 2.
The assessment committee has been asked to consider the impact of the proposed East West Link on recreation and community facilities, and whether these have been appropriately addressed. The zoo is one of Victoria’s most important, and most loved community facilities. It is, as one of the people who signed our petition put it “Melbourne’s treasure”. Last year…
o the Zoo celebrated its 150th birthday. According the Zoos Victoria Strategic Plan it is one of the oldest zoos in the world.
o 1.29 million people visited, each spending an average 3-‐4 hours. Around 18% of these visitors were from interstate or overseas.
o There were 150,000 members ($93 one adult, $173 family of four). o The Zoo was awarded Victoria’s top major tourist attraction (RACV
awards), and Australia’s second best major tourism attraction (Qantas awards).
o The Zoos Victoria revenue is principally drawn from (for all three zoos) from admissions and shop purchases, last year this amounted to $45 million.
o The Zoo received a $1million dollar bequest o One baby elephant was born, another tragically died.
The Zoo is home to over 300 species (305) and more than 2,000 individual animals (2,197) and boasts 100s of staff, 100s of regular volunteers contributing time on a regular basis and 100s of financial contributors. It is also listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, recognizing its state heritage significance. Impacts on the Melbourne Zoo, a significant community facility have not been addressed by the LMA.
Slide 3.
This figure shows how elements of the proposed East West Link surround the Melbourne Zoo:
• the Elliot Avenue offramps (and associated cut and cover construction, road widening, and increased traffic volumes) are located a mere 40m from the Zoo’s southern boundary, the one with the main entrance. As was established at these hearings on Friday 7 March, the ‘pink’ tunnel shown here, should more accurately be shown as ‘orange’ cut and cover.
• There is a construction worksite proposed a mere 20m from the Zoo (the length of this room) in the north – you can see this area from inside the zoo, particularly from the baboon and Australian animal enclosures. There will be significant impacts due to this worksite as it will be operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for five years potentially with trucks moving spoil from tunneling and cut and cover works, transporting pre-‐cast components, the need for 500 car spaces for construction workers.
• There is a proposed 20m high, 8m diameter emissions stack located near the State Netball and Hockey Centre, which will be visible throughout the Zoo – you can already see the roof of the netball and hockey centre at many places within the zoo
• Given the proposed drastic impacts on Royal Park (particularly the removal of mature trees along Elliot Avenue), the sense of arrival and being at the Zoo will be completely altered
• CIS technical studies and expert witnesses have shown there will be increased noise, vibrations, light spill and air emissions both during construction and operation, the CIS noise studies modeled noise levels between 60 – 65dB within the Zoo (this is backed up by Beresford’s expert witness statement). There will be traffic access issues, a change in the character of the Zoo’s surrounds from a parkland setting to construction area and tollway.
• These short and long term impacts are likely to change people’s perceptions of the zoo, the visitor experience and affect the Zoo’s ongoing reputation. Not to mention potential impacts on animal welfare.
Slide 4.
Slide 5.
I include these tables to summarise what the CIS does not cover Despite the zoo being surrounded by elements of the project and having potential short and long term impacts, the CIS and further documentation submitted by LMA does not:
• assess impacts on the zoo – (this is backed up by Brett Lane’s expert witness statement for LMA).
• suggest ways to avoid, manage and mitigate impacts • set any specific performance standards for the zoo (there are some
performance standards which mention the Zoo, but all are vague and do not detail any specific actions or targets).
What is missing? Based on the significance of the Zoo as a community and tourism asset for Victoria, I would have expected to see (as an absolute minimum):
• a detailed noise and vibrations assessment looking at impacts on the animals
• a detailed light spill and visual impact assessment, inc photomontages showing views of the project from key locations such as the main entrances
• a description of how access will be maintained, including cars, train, tram, pedestrians and cyclists
• an air quality assessment • an overall discussion of the impacts on the zoo as a community asset, and
detailed proposed management measures and performance standards. Just on performance standards, it has always been my understanding based on my engineering background that these should meet SMART criteria; that is they should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-‐bound. The few performance standards which mention the zoo do not meet these criteria.
Slide 6.
The assess committee sought further information in relation to the zoo on 13 Jan 2014. Those points I saw as being particularly relevant to the zoo are points 59 on air quality (pg 16), 63 on noise (pg17) and point 82 on access (pg 24) Air emissions The committee asked LMA for an assessment of air emissions impacts on the Zoo. Apart from the contour plots of air emissions, LMA provided no new information here. I did have a good laugh though at the comment that there will be incidences of zero impact when the wind direction places the sources downwind of the receptor location. Noise and vibrations The committee asked LMA specifically what standards should apply to protect the welfare of animals at the Melbourne Zoo. In response, many assertions are made by LMA such as vibration will have a negligible effect, and animals have some tolerance to vibration. No supporting documentation is provided and it reads as if someone at LMA has just made this up. This is contrary to the research. Dr Kirsten Parris is an expert on the ecological impacts of road noise and is a signatory to submission 504. She says, in a chapter for a book currently in press and due out later this year titled Ecology of Roads: A Practitioners Guide to Impacts and Mitigation (Wiley, New York): Roads and traffic alter the physical environment of species and ecological communities.
1. Road noise may be stressful for animals. 2. Road noise makes it harder for animals to hear each other, their predators
and their prey. 3. Road noise may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss in animals. 4. High levels of road‐construction noise may injure animals, especially fish,
in nearby habitats. 5. Animals and their acoustic environment may need protection from road
noise.
6. Mitigation of road noise to protect animals and their acoustic environment should be considered prior to road construction.
7. There is an urgent need for more research into the various effects of road noise on animals and their ecological communities.
A study could have been done relatively simply as a literature review of noise limits which should apply for different species housed at the Melbourne Zoo then applying these limits according to their locations within the Melbourne Zoo. My submission outlines what I would have expected to see in such a study. Someone from GHD, Brett Lane or even the Zoo could have been engaged to do this work but wasn’t.
Slide 7.
Transport connectivity The committee asked LMA for an outline of measures to minimize the impact of the closure of the Upfield Line. Again, no new information is provided here. As I pointed out in my submission, train is a major way of getting to the zoo, and what might be considered off-‐peak times for other businesses such as school holidays, is actually peak times for the zoo. The Victorian public has an interest in how train, tram, cycling and pedestrian access to the zoo will be maintained given the scale of disruption to Royal Park and the muted closing of the Upfield Line during the school holidays.
Slide 8.
As someone with 10 years experience in environmental planning, and having attended a number of days at the hearing and I must say I have been disappointed by the approach of LMA’s experts. They seem to regard this whole process, but particularly the impacts on the Zoo as a kind of joke. This is not good enough. The Zoo deserves so much better. Why should our 150 year old zoo, enjoyed by over a million people every year be dismissed for a project which does not have clearly demonstrated benefits? This project risks considerable damage to our zoo’s reputation. Overall impacts on the Zoo as a significant community and tourism facility have not been assessed. Many questions remain unanswered:
o What will be the impact on visitor numbers and the Zoo’s reputation during construction and operation of the East West Link?
o Will people, especially families stay away because of perceived exposure to emissions and contaminated spoil, concern about driving with all those trucks on the road, difficulties finding a park …
o Will the noise, vibrations and light spill cause stress for the zoo animals? o Will there be criticism of animal welfare standards? o Will peoples appreciation of the zoo diminish as it transforms from the
haven it now is, surrounded by parklands into the centre of a construction worksite and adjacent to major tollway offramps?
The CIS does not answer any of these questions.
Slide 9.
Given all of LMA’s talk about and quoting of Edward Glaeser in this panel hearing, I thought I would write to him and ask his opinion of the project and impact on the zoo. This is his measured response on Mar13 to my email on 7 March. Attachment: Email to and from Glaeser Slide 10.
In closing, I am simply asking that adequate assessment of the impacts of this major project on our Melbourne Zoo be undertaken, and made publicly available, prior to a decision being made about approval or contracts being signed. Thank you ATTACHMENTS
1. Petition and comments 2. Email exchange with Edward Glaeser