What the entrance to the proposed Vikings Poplars club in Jerrabomberra will look like. Images: Benson McCormack Architecture.
The Jerrabomberra Residents Association and neighbours of the proposed $36 million Vikings club in the Poplars precinct will mount a last-ditch attempt today to stop the development when they address the Southern Regional Planning Panel, which will decide the matter within seven days.
Backed by a 15 May submission from the Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council opposing the proposal, the Association and neighbour residents will argue that the development is inappropriate for the almost 20,000 sqm site, which sits within the proposed Poplars subdivision off Tompsitt Drive.
They are concerned about the social impacts of poker machines and late-night alcohol sales and are not assuaged by a change in closing from 3 am to 2 am.
Vikings intends building the club in two stages, comprising three buildings up to three storeys high, two car parks, a pond and a viewing platform. It will cater for 1320 patrons and Vikings argues that the new club will be a community resource in a growing area.
Vikings has also rallied to head off the negative council submission. It provided a late submission last week, addressing its concerns and saying it had feedback from 186 residents who support the project.
Julie Collins lives 60 metres from the site on Dixon Place and will address the panel.
Ms Collins said that despite minor changes from Vikings, her opposition remains.
She told Region last year that residents feared more traffic and noise, loss of privacy and the potential for drunkenness and crime, as well as being worried about the loss of habitat, trees and green space.
Ms Collins said on Monday that NSW Police were also concerned about the club spawning criminal behaviour from gambling and late-night service of alcohol, including domestic violence, and not having the resources to deal with it.
“The commander of the New South Wales District Police attended one of our JRA meetings and said there was no reason for a sporting club of this size to be trading until 2 am in suburbia,” she said.
The QPRC submission also raises these concerns from the Monaro Police Command, but the Vikings submission prepared by Knight Frank says the club had addressed police concerns.
A view of the club from the pond and its viewing deck.
QPRC says the proposal is inconsistent with the intended planning framework and community expectations for the area, as well as being out of character.
It says the current zoning is for small-scale, neighbourhood-serving commercial and community uses, not a large-scale club trading until 2 am daily.
The council is also worried about the social impacts of alcohol and poker machines, noise, traffic congestion, overshadowing, pressure on local infrastructure and loss of habitat.
The Vikings’ submission rejects this, saying the proposal has community support and the club has undertaken a detailed consultation process.
It includes a noise emission assessment prepared by Acoustic Dynamics, which the submission says addresses the matters raised in the council’s peer review and confirms that the noise impacts can be mitigated and managed.
The proposal has been adjusted to include baffles within the landscaping to further reduce noise levels, airlocks within the first floor level to serve the function rooms, and acoustic screening to the outdoor dining area adjoining the pond. There will be no outdoor amplified music after 9 pm.
Vikings argues that, as a longtime gambling and alcohol provider, it has programs in place to manage and minimise adverse impacts, as well as a robust anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing program to prevent misuse.
It says ecologically sensitive areas of the site will be protected. The proposal has cleared Commonwealth environmental hurdles.
But Ms Collins remains unconvinced.
“Nothing has changed,” she said.
“Each submission that they’ve put in for their DA, they’ve tried to address concerns, but this DA and subsequent submissions still include errors and inconsistencies that cannot be relied on.”
The panel will hear from the community at 3 pm on Tuesday (27 May) in the Braidwood Room in the Nellie Hamilton Centre, 257 Crawford Street, Queanbeyan.
Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Region Canberra.
