marianpark.net

The RWA Built Environment Plan has now been made public.

According to the BEP plan, the open space located at Gibbons Street, commonly referred to as “Marian Street Park”, has been changed to Public Recreation.

The Park will be dedicated to the Council subject to:
* Council committing adequate funds to upgrade the Park
* Railcorp (current land owners) willing to hand it over

Therefore, at this stage it is not yet clear whether the Park will be preserved!

The Plan can be downloaded from this page on the RWA website.

Following the release of the RWA Built Environment Draft Plan in February this year, 100s of Redfern and Waterloo resident wrote to the RWA expressing their views and concerns.

The RWA said a revised Plan has been in the making and that it considered many issues raised by the community.

At varying dates over the past two months, various individuals in the local community have been told by the RWA that the new Plan will

be made public within a couple of weeks.

Maybe not this evening “but surely tomorrow”.

The following text is an extract from Kristina Keneally’s Heffron E-Herald 8 June 2006

“Many residents have contacted me to express their views on the future of the reserve at Marian Street, which the draft Redfern Waterloo Built Environment Plan designates for an 18-storey building.

I agree with the residents’ concerns that open space is a valued commodity in the inner city, and their sadness at the potential loss of this reserve.

In my submission to the Draft BEP, I urged the Redfern Waterloo Authority to ensure that the draft BEP reflects residents’ desires to have access to appropriate open space within Redfern and Waterloo and in particular in the Marian Street area.

Last month I took up an invitation from a resident in the Watertower building to visit Marian Park and discuss the concerns residents have about the loss of the park and about the proposed use of the site – that is, the 18-story building – in the Draft BEP.

Now I have spoken before about the pressing need in South Sydney for active recreation space. I have noted that in the City of Sydney north of Cleveland Street there are five swimming pools and leisure centres whilst south of Cleveland Street residents have nothing.

I will remain a strong advocate for active recreation facilities in South Sydney. But in this case I am convinced that the Government needs to listen to local residents in their desire for local, usable, passive public open space.

Marian Street Park is a small oasis in an otherwise busy, hectic, noisy and developed precinct. With Gibbons Street and Regent Street immediately to its east, Redfern Station to its north and ATP to its south, Marian Street Park provides approximately trees and space for passive recreation in this otherwise highly urbanised area.

But in the end what has convinced me the most is the passionate pleas from local residents in the Watertower building. Their letters and emails, and the site visit, demonstrate to me how important this park is to the local community.

That’s why I am writing to the Minister for Redfern and Waterloo to ask that he to listen to their concerns and to use the BEP to zone Marian Street Park as open space. This will ensure that the park remains a park. This would give local residents certainty. I also ask the Minister to develop a plan for the future maintenance of the park to ensure the park remains a valuable asset for the local community.”

Elizabeth Farrelly mentions Marian Park and the RWA plan in her article For our cultural desert’s sake, roll them off to rot published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 5 May 2006.

Read entire article

The following document has been provided by Redwatch
What’s the problem?
A large new workforce and a significant number of new residents is proposed in the RWA’s Draft Redfern-Waterloo Built Environment Plan – but no new open space is proposed except for areas within the Australian Technology Park.
Why does this matter?
Redfern-Waterloo’s open space is already well below the standard set in the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (EPA Act) of 2.83 hectares per 1,000 people - that’s 28.3 square metres per person.
Last May, the figures quoted were “an average of 5.9 square metres per person …….. in Redfern-Waterloo [which] is below the city average of 6.6 square metres” (quoted from the Private Members Statement made to the NSW Parliament on 25 May 2005 by Clover Moore, MP).
Whether the standard used is the one in the EPA Act, or you simply compare Redfern-Waterloo with the rest of the City, the only conclusion is that the area has too little open space.
Even that is not the end of the story, as too little of the open space is local open space – and it’s not good enough for the RWA to suggest that district and regional parks can fill the gaps.
What’s wrong with trying to make district and regional parks do the work of local open space?
This suggestion ignores the realities of daily life in Redfern-Waterloo. Half the households do not own a car and so rely on public transport for access to district and regional open space. However, the local public transport services are inadequate for this purpose, as they primarily pass through the area on their way to or from the city. This creates open space access problems for people who are elderly and/or infirm, and for families with young children.
Residents are therefore forced to seek more indoor (and passive) recreation pursuits, or - if they do have a car - to generate greenhouse and other negative effects by driving to wherever district or regional open space is located (assuming they can park when they get there!).
What do we need?
What we need is local, usable, public open space – and not just bits of paved/landscaped area in the town centre, or private open space within or around new apartment blocks.
How do we get it?
By persuading the RWA to create zoned public open space in the Built Environment Plan.
Why does open space need to be zoned in?
Because unless it is zoned in, we’re unlikely to get it.
Developer contributions are not the answer for several reasons:
• unless areas are zoned for open space, decisions on the location of any new open space will be made on an ad hoc basis
• developer contributions, if used to buy land for open space, won’t help Redfern-Waterloo get above its current standard of open space provision, as NSW Land and Environment Court judgements (in relation to councils) mean that developers can’t be levied for more open space than the existing per capita average in the council area
• the contributions could be applied to the upgrade of existing open space rather than the creation of new open space.

A community picnic / BBQ / information day will be held this Saturday, 8 April from 11am to 3pm at Marian St Park.

This is an opportunity for you to meet your neighbours and learn more about the proposed development plans.

The event is organised by REDWatch.

Concerned residents have today welcomed developers participating in Plannex - the Planning, Development & Investment Expo in which Frank Sartor is the key-note speaker. Robert Domm, CEO of the RWA is expected to present the Built Environment Plan to developers attracting their investment.

Residents felt it is important for developers to be aware of some issues arising out of the proposed plan, which might make them reconsider investing in the plan in its current format. In the letter, developers are encouraged to demand from the RWA a revised, well considered plan, backed by necessary studies to create a better Redfern Waterloo for residents and a healthy developmental framework.
View residents’ letter of appeal to Plannex Developers (PDF 40kb)

Marian Park is a green space enjoyed by many local residents and people working in Redfern who seek a relaxing space in which to rest and recreate. Beside humans there are many types of animals that have made the Park their home. Marian Park has become a perfect habitat for humans and animals alike.

Visiting the Park at different hours of the day you can meet all kinds of people and animals enjoying the green space and fresh air. In the early morning hours residents who walk their dogs in the park cross paths with people who choose to walk via the park on their way to work. During varying hours of the day people enjoy a lie down on the grass or under the trees. Around lunchtime people use the park for a lunch picnic and others just to enjoy the tranquillity. After work hours many people use the park as a meeting spot.

A Watertower resident has mentioned many of the animals they have seen enjoy Marian Park in this comment.

As the number of residents increases in Redfern, so will the need for this green space.

“At an average of 5.9 square metres per person, open space in Redfern-Waterloo is below the City average of 6.6sqm and substantially below general standards (28.3sqm).”

Source:
» Ms Clover Moore, City of Sydney Lord Mayor
» Ms Kristina Keneally, Heffron

According to a tree count conducted on 28 February 2006, Marian Street Park is home to 115 trees.

The adjacent carpark and pavement that both used to be part of the park contain an additional 73 trees.

The Redfern community stands to loose a total of 188 trees.

» Get a copy of the draft plan
You can phone the Redfern Waterloo Authority on 9202 9100 or click here to email the Authority and ask for a draft plan to be sent to you.
Alternatively you can obtain a copy in person from Level 11, Tower 2, 1 Lawson Square, Redfern.
You can also download this text only PDF of the draft plan, however this version does not include maps and diagrams.

» Attend information sessions at the TNT Towers
Information sessions are being held daily between 4 - 5pm until 10 March, 2006.
Also, on March 2, 8 and 9 sessions will be extended to 7pm.

» Attend the Community Forum at the Redfern Town Hall
Saturday, 4 March between 1 - 3pm.

» Write a letter responding to the Draft Redfern Waterloo Built Environment Plan
You’ve got from today until 5pm on 13 April, 2006.
Letters should be addressed to:

Mr Robert Domm, CEO
Redfern Waterloo Authority
PO Box 3332
Redfern NSW 2016

» Post a copy of your letter on this website
You can share your concerns with other residents who have already posted their letters on this site using the form at the bottom of this page.

Marian Street Park is a parcel of wedge-shaped land approximately 157 metres in length and 40 metres at its widest (northern) end and having an area of 3,140m² (0.3 hectares or 0.8 acres).

From the Marian Street Park Preservation Group (1996-2000)

The Marian Street Park Preservation Group
A Park in Peril — Marian Street Park Redfern

DEMOGRAPHY

Redfern is a traditional, inner-city, working class, industrial/residential suburb.
Cradle of Australian industry at the time of Federation, the Redfern area is now experiencing rapid structural change. With its position adjacent to the CBD, its excellent transportation links and its undeveloped and underdeveloped land, growth and evolution are inevitable.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the area south of Redfern Railway Station.
The creative use of large tracts of surplus railway property transmogrified into the Australian Technology Park is a prime example of this trend. The area surrounding Marian Street Park is zoned as mixed use.

A small integrated residential/business and light industrial estate has developed in the area bound by Gibbons, Rosehill and Cornwallis Streets. During the past decade or so, in excess of 300 apartments have been built in Marian, Gibbons and Wyndham Streets and approximately 200 more are in the process of being built or awaiting planning approval.

Casual observation reveals that on weekdays between 70 and 100 area employees and CityRail commuters park their cars in the vicinity of Marian Street Park. Given the pressure to repopulate the inner city, proximity to transport links, the airport, CBD, the Australian Technology Park, Universities, etc., further mixed use residential development can be expected.

TRAFFIC

The Road Transport Authority’s conversion of Regent and Gibbons Streets into a segment of the southern arterial one-way system has substantially increased heavy road traffic to and from the airport, the southern industrial suburbs and Port Botany. This is referred to on page 7 of South Sydney City Council’s Lawson Square Streetscape Improvement Project:- “…a large degree of through traffic providing noise, pollution and danger for pedestrians…” and ibid page 11 “…Noise from traffic is a major negative aspect of the environment of the site…” Positioned directly central to all this change and activity is MARIAN STREET PARK.

DESCRIPTION

Marian Street Park is a parcel of wedge-shaped land approximately 157 metres in length and 40 metres at its widest (northern) end and having an area of 3,140 m2 (0.3 hectares or 0.8 acres).

LOCATION

The park is situated directly south of Redfern Railway Station, bounded by Gibbons Street to the east and Rosehill Street to the west. Marian Street Park provides the major pedestrian and cycle access between Gibbons Street and the Australian Technology Park.

OWNERSHIP

All the land that makes up Marian Street Park is owned by the State Rail Authority of NSW (or the Commissioner for Railways), with the exception of the area south of Margaret Street, which is owned by the Commissioner for Main Roads.

NEED FOR PRESERVATION

Redfern Railway Station, Eveleigh Precinct, the Southern Arterial Road, industrial estate, apartment blocks and roadside commuter parking are all circumjacent to Marian Street Park.

Driven by the perceived short term requirements of the Department of Railways and the Department of Main Roads, creation of the park was very likely a pragmatic management solution by the Department of Transport to rid itself of a public eyesore, by creating a low maintenance area warehoused against possible future needs at ratepayers expense. Whatever the rationale for the existence and past history of Marian Street Park, the major concern should now be focused on its preservation.

Since the early 1970s when controversy arose over the ultimately thwarted attempt to destroy Kellys Bush (a bushland pocket in the inner north shore suburb of Hunters Hill), public awareness has matured in relation to the invaluable social importance of urban green space.

Marian Street Park exemplifies the classic profile of such green space providing:
- a breathing green lung of mature trees within an urban environment É a buffer between the noise and pollution of traffic and people
- an opportunity for a multiplicity of casual recreational activities
- the visual pleasure of natural surroundings and wildlife spiritual renewal

The value of Marian Street Park depends on maintaining its integrity.

BRIEF HISTORY

The land that has become Marian Street Park started to be acquired in 1940 by the then department of main roads in connection with a road-widening scheme, which was subsequently abandoned in the 1980s.

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