Bollards will be needed at the new Warilla library car park to stop vehicles floating away in storm events, the council’s plans for the site reveal.
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Shellharbour City Council’s development application (DA) for the new library, to be built at 6 Woolworths Ave Warilla, shows how prone the site is to flooding.
The proposal to build the facility on a flood catchment basin would necessitate special measures to deal with the effects of flood and stormwater, the DA shows.
The architects’ plan advises there should be bollards almost 1m high to be installed “as a measure to stop cars floating out in storm events”.
Resident Diane Quinlin said the location was a “terrible site” for a library – designated as flood prone, in the middle of service roads for the shopping centre there, and not in Warilla but in Lake Illawarra. The risk of flooding from Lake Illawarra meant a standard floor height of 2.8m, so the library would need to be built on stilts.
“Why is council building in such an area with its associated flood risk and attendant building costs, with parking areas surrounded by bollards to prevent cars floating out in storm events?” she said.
She said the six off-street parking spots proposed – three for staff, three public – were inadequate. The current library has 64 parking spots. And another 15 spots are proposed for what is presently a no-stopping zone opposite the loading dock for Woolworths and Aldi.
Ms Quinlin is also a member of the activist group Stop The Hub, opposed to the council’s $59 million new CBD civic centre.
She said the hub project was sucking all the money away from other vital works such as the library, which needed to be larger to cater to the community it serves.
The Mercury asked Shellharbour City Council to respond to these concerns but the council was unable to provide a response before deadline. This will be followed up this week.
Ms Quinlin said the council’s decision to place the DA on public exhibition over Christmas – it was up from the Thursday before Christmas to the Monday before Australia Day – meant many residents may not have been aware of the proposal, or had a chance to have their say.
However the Mercury understands the council has been accepting late submissions from the public and may continue to do so.
