16 November 2016

New bus station in Gungahlin Square

17 November 2016 | calligraphy

Hello all,

Can you please tell me your thoughts and advice on the following?

The ACT Government is planning to build a new bus station in Gungahlin, on the street immediately adjacent to the Gungahlin Square apartments.

I have recently read through the plans on the Development Applications website, including the noise and air pollution surveys, which I am immensely dissatisfied with.

I have a unit in the Gungahlin Square apartment building on level 1. When this new bus station is built, it will be literally within a couple of metres of my balcony. That means noisy buses (estimated to be up to 80 per hour in the near future), fumes, etc, will coming into the only outdoors access point for my unit. The noise survey conducted for this proposal shows that the noise will undoubtedly affect the residents’ lifestyle, as it will be disruptive within bedrooms and lounge rooms (the units do not have double glazing).

I can’t believe that this particular section of Gungahlin Place has been chosen. ACT Govt representatives tell me that it is because it will be a short walk for bus passengers to get from this particular location to the light rail terminus. However, there is another perfectly viable option to locate the bus station on the other side of Gungahlin Place – adjacent to the Coles building, where there are no residences, and it still within close walking distance to the trams.

Although I lodged an objection when it was first open for public consultation (November 2015), I received no response, and it appears the development is going ahead despite the concerns of the owners in Gungahlin Place.

Nowhere else in Canberra has a large bus station located so close to residences. It is only because it is also close to the light rail station that the Government does not seem to mind making a huge disruption to hundreds of peoples’ lives.

Please see my Facebook group on this issue: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1524786337538242/ I only just started it so there’s not much on there yet.

I’ve emailed the building’s body corporate, the My Gungahlin Facebook group, Gungahlin Community Council, WIN News, Canberra Times, Megan Fitzharris’s office, Mick Gentleman’s office, etc but have received very little response and definitely not much support.

Surely it’s completely wrong to subject people in their homes to a noisy smelly bus station right outside? I’m deeply unimpressed at how the Government is trying to sneak this one in. I’m going to make a submission before the consultation period ends, but in reality, will my views even be considered??

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John Moulis12:33 pm 19 Nov 16

dungfungus said :

A lot of us in Tuggeranong have a noisy, dusty and smelly land fill and composting factory that we have to live with.

Welcome to the world of ACT the Labor minority/Greens government.

Long Gully Land Fill Area. Opened 1967. Tuggeranong first established 1971. First houses in Macarthur 1983. You can’t pull that data centre/power station trick again this time. We’re awake-up to you now.

JC11:54 am 19 Nov 16

Fact 3 there was never any closure date for the tip.

Fact 4 tips by their very nature expand. The rubbish doesn’t go anywhere does it?

Fact 5 with a growing population tips expand with growth too.

Getting back to the OP’s issue for a second I am half in agreement with them. They brought before this bus station was announced/planned and they do have balconys that would be close to the stops.

Why there was never a location for a bus station identified when the town centre was built i will never know. See those bloody Libs put them in power for a few years and look at the mess they created.

Though will say to the OP my understanding is the bus station is not going to be a bus stand. So buses should be just come drop off/pick up and move along. I beleive the layovers and driver rest areas will remain where they are today at each end of the town centre. So buses should be sitting outside your balcony.

rommeldog568:11 am 19 Nov 16

JC said :

Simple fact the dump has been there well before Tuggeranong. So buy near a dump then a bit rich to complain later about the smell.

You just don’t get it do you. Fact 1 : The Mugga Lane tip was pre existing. Yes. Nearby residents knew that. Fact 2 : The tip was expanded 300% only recently. When nearby residents purchased there, that was not known. When u stop trying to find excuses and obscurification, its pretty simple.

JC8:12 pm 18 Nov 16

dungfungus said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

You buy an apartment in the middle of the shopping/commercial hub of Gungahlin and now cry “poor me” because of traffic noise and fumes? Isn’t one of the benefits of apartment living to be near public transport? If you didn’t want noise and fumes you should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey. No sympathy from me.

“……should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey.” ha ha, busses can’t even fit in these suburbs due to excellent town planning.

Really. I must be seeing things I thought those green and white things or the orange and blue things that I’ve seen in all those suburbs were buses. Wonder if they didn’t fit how they got in and go out all the time.

Now where there is some bad planning is the layout of the internal road infrastructure and roads. Take Casey for example. The bus currently follows the most logical route but doesn’t go directly past the new shops. And if the route was modified to go via the shops then it would either miss parts of Casey or would have to do an illogical route with back tracking. If however the shops were built on the other side of the road next to horse park drive then would have been much better for transport perspective.

And Gungahlin that’s a mess too for transport. The layout of the town centre is awful. Especially havainf Flemmington Road running right into the centre of the town. Should have run around the back. Now remind me who was in charge of planning the town centre. Yeah that’s right Kate (paint the grass because we brought it from FNQ) Carnell and Tony DeDeminico, they were Libs weren’t they and this guy called Bob Winell, what was he, yeah one of those dastardly land developers. So seems Libs and labor much the same hey?

JC8:00 pm 18 Nov 16

rommeldog56 said :

JC said :

It was announced 12 months ago.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/gungahlin-bus-station-site-proposed-by-act-government-20151101-gko250.html

And I will ask the same question I just asked Dungers do you reckon a liberal government would have done anything different?

So, as usual, you ask if a non Labor/Greens Govt would have done it differently. That’s no defence what so ever to what ACT Labor/Greens have now actually done. Anyway, it matters not. It was announced 12 months ago and people still voted them back in that neck of the woods. The affected residents can complain all they like.

So, no care from me.

Not a matter of defending or attacking them actaully. Simple fact the dump has been there well before Tuggeranong. So buy near a dump then a bit rich to complain later about the smell.

And btw I used to own a place in Dunlop facing the tip when West Belconnen tip still had an active tip face and I grew up macgrgeor backing onto the reserve that seperate Macagrgeor and the tip. Yes we got smells, that’s what happens when you live close to a tip!

As for the comparison to the libs no point constantly blaming the government if the alternive would do the same. Not every decision gets down to petty point scoring and the like.

And besides I don’t recall the Libs having a plan to close mugga lane. Maybe your Liberal Party of Australia PC or do you represent the IPA might have the answer.

See your attacks on the government are not too different to my defence is it?

And for the record I am not nor have I ever been an ACT government employee nor employed, contracted or otherwise fiscally linked to any political party. Nor am I a member of any political party.

gbates6:45 pm 18 Nov 16

I stayed at the serviced apartments next door the Tuggeranong station a few years back and it was awful. You could never have fresh air in the apartment because there was none and the noise from the buses goes until quite late at night. The ambience of a bus station is something quite different to the general “hustle and bustle” you’d expect from buying in a central location. As you are not a resident of the inner north, your views and your quality of life don’t matter to this government. Nonetheless I have sympathy for you regardless of which unappealing candidate you voted for. Best of luck.

dungfungus1:21 pm 18 Nov 16

wildturkeycanoe said :

You buy an apartment in the middle of the shopping/commercial hub of Gungahlin and now cry “poor me” because of traffic noise and fumes? Isn’t one of the benefits of apartment living to be near public transport? If you didn’t want noise and fumes you should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey. No sympathy from me.

“……should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey.” ha ha, busses can’t even fit in these suburbs due to excellent town planning.

tuffmouse1:08 pm 18 Nov 16

wildturkeycanoe said :

You buy an apartment in the middle of the shopping/commercial hub of Gungahlin and now cry “poor me” because of traffic noise and fumes? Isn’t one of the benefits of apartment living to be near public transport? If you didn’t want noise and fumes you should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey. No sympathy from me.

Agree

tuffmouse1:07 pm 18 Nov 16

Is this the future? Gungahlin residents get light rail and complain about bus services. Dickson residents get light rail and complain about Coles DOMA.
No sympathy from me for these groups.

wildturkeycanoe9:21 am 18 Nov 16

You buy an apartment in the middle of the shopping/commercial hub of Gungahlin and now cry “poor me” because of traffic noise and fumes? Isn’t one of the benefits of apartment living to be near public transport? If you didn’t want noise and fumes you should have bought in Crace, Forde or Casey. No sympathy from me.

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