Tunnel project delays Balmain Tigers homecoming
THE Balmain Tigers’ return home will have to wait another decade after the State Government confirmed its leagues club land in the inner west of Sydney will become a major construction site for the Western Harbour Tunnel.
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THE Balmain Tigers’ return to their spiritual home will have to wait another decade after the State Government confirmed its leagues club land in Rozelle will become a major construction site for the Western Harbour Tunnel.
Heworth Developments had hoped to start work on transforming the vandalised ruin into 173 apartments, shops and a new club for the Tigers next year, pending council approval of its development application.
ut Heworth’s managing director Brian Hood said Roads and Maritime Services had “indicated they would need the site for eight years”, pushing the Tigers’ homecoming back to about 2028.
“I think the detrimental impact of using this site for the primary tunnelling site south of Sydney Harbour on the local community has been ill considered,” Mr Hood said.
“The Government must have a plan B.
“Heworth at this stage has no plans to pull the plug on the development as there have been many instances of the Government proposing to compulsory acquire a site and end up not proceeding.”
Such was the case when the club originally closed its doors in 2010 to make way for the CBD Metro to Rozelle, which was later scrapped, leaving the site to fall into disrepair.
Rozelle Residents Action Group spokesman David Anderson said the Environmental Impact Statement for CBD Metro had shown the site’s use would be a “logistical nightmare” due to the thousands of tonnes of tunnel spoil that would need be removed via Victoria Rd.
“It showed it wouldn’t be possible to have massive trucks hitting peak afternoon traffic so they were going to have to run over the weekend and at night and it will be the same with this project,” Mr Anderson said.
“The intersection at Darling St is already rated problematic and what they’re proposing is thousands of trucks coming in and out of a massive mineshaft smack bang in the middle of a densely populated suburb right opposite a rapidly growing school.
“Local communities are treated as collateral damage.”
He said the community was very concerned about dust, noise and vibration that will be generated from the works.
Last Thursday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian released a “detailed design”, previously labelled “cabinet sensitive” for the tunnel, which will connect the Rozelle interchange to the Warringah Freeway under the harbour between Birchgrove and Waverton. The designs state the Rozelle site allows “direct access for spoil transport onto Victoria Rd, keeping trucks off local streets”.
An “acoustic shed” will contain noise and dust while existing dilapidated buildings will be removed.
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Ms Berejiklian said the tolled tunnel “will create a western bypass of the CBD and take pressure off the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Anzac Bridge and Western Distributor”.
An RMS spokesman said use of the site would be temporary and a rigorous impact assessment would examine construction impacts, including traffic and noise, as well as ways to avoid and mitigate them.
The community will be able to comment on an EIS.
Early works will start this year with major construction to start in 2020 and the tunnel is expected to open in 2026.