Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results · 2015. 8. 18. · Page 4 of 19 Young Street...
Transcript of Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results · 2015. 8. 18. · Page 4 of 19 Young Street...
Young Street Reconstruction Project:
Workshop Results
May 2015
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Contents
Contents .................................................................................................................................. 2
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 3
Community information sessions ............................................................................................ 4
Workshop agenda ............................................................................................................... 5
Promotion ............................................................................................................................ 7
Registration ......................................................................................................................... 7
Attendance .......................................................................................................................... 7
Project background and scope ............................................................................................ 7
Feedback summary ................................................................................................................ 8
Individual results .................................................................................................................. 9
Top 3 Values .................................................................................................................... 9
Ideas for Young Street ................................................................................................... 10
Top 3 issues .................................................................................................................. 11
Proposed solutions ........................................................................................................ 12
Parking options feedback .............................................................................................. 14
Group workshop activity results ........................................................................................ 15
Top 3 values .................................................................................................................. 15
Top 3 issues .................................................................................................................. 16
Workshop observations ..................................................................................................... 17
Participant feedback .......................................................................................................... 18
Where to from here ............................................................................................................... 19
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Executive Summary
A community workshop was held to inform Carrington residents and businesses about, and
obtain community feedback on, Council’s intention to undertake road and footpath
reconstruction on Young Street. In total, 40 participants attended the session on Saturday 23
May 2015, 1pm - 3pm.
The workshop was facilitated by Council's community engagement team with presentations
from Council's community engagement and infrastructure planning departments.
Workshop results revealed that the aspects of Young Street most highly valued by
participants were the village atmosphere/community feel (22%), followed by trees (16%),
wide footpaths (10%) and the availability of free parking (10%).
Workshop participants were asked to identify the top three issues for Young Street. The
results show the main areas that need to be addressed are the footpath maintenance (28%)
in particular the poor condition and inconsistent surface materials, followed by drainage
(17%) and parking (16%).
The most preferred parking option for Young Street's commercial precinct was the current
layout of 90° parking on both sides of the road.
The workshop outcomes will be considered during the design process. Council will hold a
second workshop later this year to gather feedback on the design alternatives. Once the
design is complete, it will be put on public exhibition for comment.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Community information sessions
Project background and scope
In the early-mid 1990s Council undertook a make-over of Young Street’s commercial
area. Street trees planted in the roadway as part of this project grew vigorously causing
damage to pipes, paths and road pavements. Over time this has resulted in trip hazards,
localised flooding and interruption to services. Road safety issues include a non-compliant
parking layout with inadequate manoeuvring space and traffic thresholds which are mistaken
for pedestrian crossings. A number of requests have been received from the public
regarding these issues.
Recurrent maintenance works are a bandaid solution and expensive to continually
repeat. To adequately address the issues identified on Young Street, Council needs to
undertake full road and footpath reconstruction. This will replace damaged and aging
infrastructure, resolve parking and road safety issues and incorporate appropriate tree
species. This work presents an opportunity to improve the functioning and presentation of
the street and rejuvenate Carrington's commercial area.
The Young Street Reconstruction Project has been broken up into two stages of completion.
While concept designs will be undertaken for both stages at the same time, the stages will
be separated when it comes to the construction phase. Stage 1 construction is due to
commence July to December 2016 and Stage 2 July to December 2017 (subject to change).
Figure 1 Project scope:
Note: Scope area covers Young St from Forbes St to Cowper St North Stage 1 is from Cowper St North to Victoria St and Stage 2 is from Victoria St to Forbes St Stage 1 is deemed the commercial part of Young Street and Stage 2 residential.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Figure 2 Project timeline
Workshop objectives
The purpose of the community information session was to:
inform Carrington residents and businesses about, and obtain community feedback
on, Council’s intention to undertake road and footpath reconstruction on Young
Street,
present previous feedback received from the Carrington community about issues on
Young Street, and
discuss other issues that need to be considered in reconstructing Young Street.
Workshop agenda
The workshop was structured in two parts. The first part of the session was designed to
inform participants about community engagement and issues identified by the Carrington
community to date, management issues and design opportunities and constraints. The
second part of the session involved workshop exercises designed to provide opportunities
for participants to provide feedback on what they value about the area as well as identify any
other issues for Council consideration. This model of workshop falls under the inform and
consult categories of the IAP2 framework outlined in Newcastle City Council's Community
Engagement Framework.
We are here
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Figure 3: Public Participation Spectrum, International Association of Public Participation
Figure 4 Workshop agenda
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Promotion
The workshop was promoted in Carrington in a variety of ways:
flyers were letterbox dropped to each household in Carrington. A copy of the flyer is
included in Appendix I,
four coreflutes were displayed along Young Street,
the Community Engagement team liaised with Young Street businesses and left
flyers for businesses to distribute to community members, and
all Newcastle Voice online members residing in Carrington were emailed a
personalised invitation to attend the workshop. In total, 41 Newcastle Voice members
were invited and 9 attended the workshop (response rate of 22%).
All Councillors were invited to attend the workshop.
Registration
The flyers and coreflutes instructed community members wishing to attend to register prior to
the workshop. Registrations were essential given capacity restrictions at the workshop
venue (School Hall, Carrington Public School), for catering purposes, and also to ensure that
participants were Carrington residents, businesses, or property owners. In total, 63
registrations were taken.
Attendance
In total, 40 members of the Carrington community attended the workshop. Council staff
present at the workshop included:
The Community Engagement team,
Asset Program Coordinator - Environment,
Program Development Coordinator - Roads,
Landscape Architect
Environmental Education Officer - Natural Assets
Councillor Posniak also attended for part of the workshop.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Informing the community
During the inform section of the workshop there were three presentations. The first outlined
the community engagement that has occurred to date including an overview of community
identified issues. The second presentation surrounded management issues which looked at
drainage, tree issues (including; past tree planting practice, tree roots systems, underwire
tree management), damaged road infrastructure, public safety and insurance claims and
maintenance claims. It also outlined the Young Street reconstruction project objectives, that
the project will provide:
footpath and road reconstruction
improved parking outcomes
traffic management (calming, pedestrian, cycle & disability access)
kerb & gutter and stormwater drainage reconstruction
integrated tree replacement
rejuvenated commercial precinct (street furniture)
The third presentation outlined the opportunities and constraints. This included identifying
the attributes to Young Street currently as well as design considerations focusing on parking
layout options, special parking and access requirements, overhead power and poles,
underground services, traffic sight lines, soil types and surface levels, and budget.
For more information or to view the workshop presentation please see Appendix II.
Feedback summary
The workshop was divided into two engagement activities and will be reported as individual
results and group work results.
The individual exercise required each participant to identify:
the top three features that they value or like about Young Street
what they would like to see in Young Street
the top three issues they would like to see addressed on Young Street, as well as the
opportunity to suggest solutions to these issues
level of agreement with parking options for Young Street
This information was captured on a worksheet, presented in Appendix III.
To help complete the exercise, participants were taken on a guided walking tour of Young
Street. Some participants opted to not participate in the walk and completed the exercise at
the workshop premises.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Individual results
Top 3 features valued or liked on Young Street
The top three results overall for individual values were the village atmosphere/community
feel (22%), followed by trees (16%), wide footpaths (10%) and the availability of free parking
(10%). See Figure 5 for more detail.
Figure 5: Top three features valued on Young Street
1%
1%
4%
4%
2%
3%
10%
1%
2%
5%
10%
3%
16%
3%
3%
3%
4%
5%
22%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Bus shelter
Easy access to Young St
Shade
Business type
Traffic thru way
Wide street/ wide road
Parking (free, amount)
Surface
Cycle on footpaths
General
Wide footpaths
Greenery/ tree canopy
Trees
Existing character
Outside dining
Open space (park)
Heritage
Street furniture
Village atmosphere/community feel
10%
15%
18%
19%
40%
Oth
er
Ro
ads
Fo
ot
path
sT
ree
sC
ultu
ral
Top 3 features valued on Young Street
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Ideas for Young Street
Workshop participants were asked to identify what they would like to see in Young Street.
This could be what is currently there and want to see more of, or ideas for what could be
implemented. 25 responses to this question were received (63% of workshop participants).
The most commented on theme was roads (29%) including addressing the traffic issues,
parking options and pedestrian crossings. Roads were followed by trees (25%) and cultural
items (21%). Please refer to Figure 6 for further detail.
Figure 6: What would you like to see in Young Street?
2%
2%
2%
4%
2%
2%
4%
6%
2%
2%
2%
4%
4%
6%
2%
4%
4%
6%
8%
2%
4%
4%
4%
4%
4%
6%
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10%
Shade cloths
Fix the Council ruin
Extend landscape treatment to the north
Underground powerline
Wide footpaths
Recess footpaths
Shared pathways
Footpath maintenance
More distinctive entry to village
Encourage heritage
Re-install verandahs and posts
Enhanced village atmosephere
Markets and art
Street furniture
Careful choice of trees (consult experts)
Plants/bushes/ trees
Less trees
Trees and tree canopy
Remove trees
Implement timed parking
Kerb & Gutter maintainance
More parking
Angle parking
Pedestrian crossing (near post office &…
90° parking
Address traffic
10%
15%
21%
25%
29%
Oth
er
Fo
otp
ath
sC
ultu
ral
Tre
es
Ro
ads
What would you like to see in Young Street?
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Top 3 issues to be addressed on Young Street
Workshop participants were asked to identify the top three issues for Young Street. The top
three issues identified were footpath maintenance (28%) in particular the poor condition and
inconsistent surface materials, followed by drainage (17%) and parking (16%) See Figure 7
for more detail.
Figure 7: Young St- Top three issues
1%
1%
7%
1.2%
2.4%
12%
4%
17%
1%
1%
2%
2%
4%
16%
28%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Enhance streetscape
Council ruin
Powerlines
Lighting
Replace bus stop in Cowper St
Trees
flooding/ ponding
Drainage
Kerb/guttering
Road condition
Lack of pedestrian crossing
Limit speeds
Traffic
Parking
Footpath maintenance
10%
4%
12%
20%
27%
28%
Oth
er
Fa
cili
tie
sT
ree
sD
rain
ag
eR
oa
ds
Fo
ot
path
s
Top 3 issues to be addressed on Young Street
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Proposed solutions
Participants were asked to propose solutions for the three issues they identified for Young
Street. Full verbatim responses are presented below in Table 1.
Table 1 Proposed solutions for Young Street issues
Issue Sub - Issues Suggestions
Fo
otp
ath
s (
28
%)
Footpath maintenance New footpath
Extended footpath at taxi stand in front of oriental which diminished width of young st and make turning dangerous
Just do it
Same style flat and integrated Cowper to Forbes
Remedial works that are sustainable
Decide on appropriate paving and replace
Good safe footpaths, get to work and fix it
Resurface all footpaths in one uniform style
Created from trees
Paving maybe porous paving
State of footpaths
Removable, replicable pavers
Repaired to better condition
No trip slip footpaths
Ro
ad
s 2
7%
Traffic (calming features, confusion)
Items designed to meet purpose visually identified
Turn current traffic calming into pedestrian crossings
Traffic thru way
Parking (poor design)
90° front to kerb
Timed parking, rear to kerb
Timed parking 2 hours
Leave it at 90° parking
Angle in stage 1 and 2
45° parking
Lack of parking at peak times. Redesign parking 90° parking in Cowper/eastern side of Young outside old theatre
Parallel parking on both sides
Do not like 45° parking
Resident parking and cyclist parking
Limit speeds (speed humps, reduce speed)
Dangerous port traffic speeding around the corner at cnr Young St through Howden St- trucks mount the kerb as narrow street. Poor visibility and kids on street - park at risk general school kid street crossing. Repairing, traffic calming.
Speed humps, speed limit to 20kph
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
W
ate
r d
rain
ag
e (
20%
)
Flooding/ ponding Something done for better drainage
No islands
Drainage Created from trees
Appropriate tree planting and kerb/gutter rejuvenation
Storm water leaves in gutter
Fix it
New kerb and gutter all street
Stormwater remediation
Tre
es
(1
2%
)
Trees Small foliage trees on footpath edge large trees removed.
Figtree's on road way remove them
pruned a little better
Removal of tree's
Plant compatible tree's to suit drainage
Create a planned tree structure plans
Smaller trees - less trees but integrated to Forbes
Fa
cilit
ies
(4%
)
Replace bus stop in Cowper St
Bus stop - put back that was taken away from Young/Cowper Street. Think about the elderly who can't walk far
Oth
er
(10%
)
Council ruin Use our brain to make it better
Enhance streetscape Visually daggy, look at Melbourne street scapes and get it
Power lines Need to remove underground
Put underground
Note: Not all participants completed the issues section (74% completes). Some participants ranked issues but did
not suggest any improvements.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Parking options feedback
Participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement with eight different parking
options for Young Street using a five point scale. A mean score was calculated for each
parking option, where a mean score of 1.0 indicates strong disagreement and a score of 5.0
indicates strong agreement. Participants also had the opportunity to outline in an open-
ended question why they agreed or disagreed with each option. The survey was collected at
the end of the workshop, we received 34 responses. Results from the first section of the
exercise are as follows. The worksheet utilised by participants is included in Appendix III and
verbatim comments in Appendix IV.
The option with the highest level of agreement was the current parking situation, 90° both
sides (mean score of 3.5 out of 5), followed by 90° both sides rear to kerb (3.0 out of 5) and
45° both sides no median/trees (2.4 out of 5). Please refer to Figure 8 for mean scores for all
parking options.
During the workshop the infrastructure planning team outlined that the current parking option
does not meet legislative requirements as the street is too narrow. If 90° parking on both
sides is selected, it may impinge on the existing structure and potentially footpaths. As
shown in Figure 5 wide footpaths have been identified as an asset to Young Street. This
issue will be taken into consideration during the concept design phase and addressed during
the next stage of consultation with community.
Figure 8: Parking options
1.8
2.1
2.1
2.3
2.3
2.4
3.0
3.5
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Parallel at sides and parallel central withmedian
Parallel, central 45° (alternating banks)
45° both sides with median/trees
Parallel at sides, central 90°
Parallel at sides, central 45° (alternatingsingles)
45° both sides no median / trees
90° both sides rear to kerb
90° both sides (status quo)
Parking options (Mean Scores)
Strongly disagree Strongly agree
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Group workshop activity results
The second section of the workshop involved participants breaking into groups with an
average six people in each group. The groups where asked to identify their overall top three
values and issues to submit on giant post-its as a group. Each group wrote their top three
values on orange post-its and top three issues on pink post-its. The results were collected
and placed on the wall in themes. Following this exercise, the Community Engagement team
facilitated a whole group discussion where participants were able to discuss results and
identify anything they thought may have been overlooked.
Group work: Top three values
When asked what the groups value, all groups (6 groups) addressed village
atmosphere/community feel as a value along with footpaths (100%). Trees were the next
most common value (67%) which was addressed by 4 out of 6 groups.
Figure 9: Group work- values
17%
17%
17%
33%
50%
50%
50%
67%
100%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Bus shelter
Garbage
Outside dining
Businesses
Parking
Street furniture
Wide street
Trees
Footpaths
Village atmosphere/ community feel
Group work: values
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Group work- Top three issues
When asked what the top three issues were for Young St, all groups (6 groups) identified
drainage (100%). Footpaths were the next most common issue (83%) which was addressed
by 5 out of 6 groups, followed by parking (67%).
Figure 10: Group work- issues
33%
33%
33%
33%
50%
50%
67%
83%
100%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Powerlines
Trees
flooding/ ponding
Kerb/guttering
Traffic
Lack of pedestrian crossing
Parking
Footpath
Drainage
Group work: issues
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Workshop observations
This section outlines observations taken at the workshop. The following are additional items
that were addressed in general discussion:
Parking: The discussion surrounding parking indicated that parking capacity in most
cases was adequate, except for lunchtime peak. Timed parking was recommended
by a few participants to prevent all-day parkers.
Pedestrian crossings: There were mixed opinions among participants about the
locations and safety of the current pedestrian crossings. It was identified that
crossings on Young Street are important and special consideration needs to be made
when deciding the location of future crossings.
Speed limits: The topic of vehicle speed limits was raised numerous times. It was
suggested that the entire length of Young St be a 40kph neighbourhood traffic zone.
It was suggested by another that the retail precinct be limited to 20kph, 40kph
appeared to be an acceptable speed limit for most attendees.
Trees: Issues were noted with the fig trees (circa 1996), where trip hazards, drainage
and ponding issues have arisen in recent years. No-one objected to the proposal that
all of the fig trees and some of the London Plane trees be replaced with a more
suitable canopy species. One elderly woman stated that she had tripped in recent
times. Another woman stated that she wrote a two-page letter to Council in 1996
urging them not to plant this variety of tree in the first place.
Power lines: Many attendees requested that electricity be placed underground,
however doing so was determined by Council staff to be well outside of the project's
budget.
Bus stop: Some participants didn't like the preceding relocation of bus stops in
Young Street - bus users wanted something that is protected from the elements,
central and accessible. Retailers didn't want bus stops placed directly in front of small
retail businesses.
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Participant feedback
Participants with email addresses were sent a feedback survey to complete after the
workshop. These results assist in providing a better service in the future. The results show a
high overall satisfaction with the workshop. Figure 11 shows the results as a mean score,
the scale was 'strongly disagree' (1.0) to 'strongly agree' (5.0).
Figure 11: Workshop- participant feedback (n= 9)
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.9
4.1
4.2
4.2
4.6
1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Workshop participants had sufficient opportunityto talk about the things they value about Young
Street
I feel like I got to have my say
The workshop adequately informed participants about Council’s planned reconstruction project
for Young Street.
Overall, I was satisfied with the Young Streetreconstruction project community workshop
The objectives of the workshop were clear
The key issues that need addressing in YoungStreet were adequately discussed
I enjoyed the workshop
I will attend the next Young Street workshoplater this year if I am available
Workshop: participant feedback
Strongly agree Strongly disagree
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Young Street Reconstruction Project: Workshop Results May 2015
Where to from here
A copy of this report will be made available to those (where an email address was provided)
that registered interest in the workshop (including those that did not attend) and will be
published on the Newcastle City Council completed engagements webpage.
The next step is for Council to begin the design process. Council will hold a second
workshop later this year to gather feedback on the design alternatives. Once the design is
complete, it will be put on public exhibition for comment.