Parking provision for staff at the University of Tasmania's Inveresk campus's first stage is not met by the existing car park but is adequate once alternative sources of parking are considered.
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A traffic report has been submitted as part of UTAS development application for stage one of its $260 million campus, has been advertised for public comment by the City of Launceston Council.
The report was prepared by Keith Midson as a requirement under the City of Launceston interim planning scheme and investigated the impact of stage one of the campus on traffic and parking.
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Stage one of the campus includes the library and student services building, located in front of the Annexe Theatre and is next to the Stone Building, which currently houses creative arts and the Academy Gallery.
Stage one of the campus development also includes a pedestrian bridge across the river to connect the later-stage Willis Street site with the Inveresk precinct.
A total of 51 car spaces will be removed to cater for the construction of stage one of the University of Tasmania's Inveresk campus.
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"The proposed development involves the demolition of the existing 51 space car park and construction of a new library for the Inveresk campus," the report read.
"The library itself will be ancillary to other components of the Inveresk campus and will not generate traffic.
"Staff working at the library will be largely reallocated from other areas of the university, with a small forecast increase of 50 staff in the first year."
The report said there was sufficient alternative parking to mitigate the loss of the 51 car spaces that will be lost during the construction of the library.
However, when considering the campus as a whole, with the increase in staff and current student numbers, there was an undersupply of 67 car parking spaces.
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"The net change in traffic generation for the Inveresk campus is therefore likely to be nominal in the order of 50 vehicle two-way movements per day."
A specific area plan is being produced by UTAS that will go into the traffic issues in more detail and considers the need for increased parking at the site.
Alternative parking solutions for the campus are being investigated by UTAS after it revealed two weeks ago that negotiations between the education institution and the owner of Glebe Farm broke down.
UTAS had proposed a 550-space car park at Glebe Farm to be a potential solution to any parking shortfall and to reduce congestion on the site due to taking traffic to the other side of the river.
The site would be connected for pedestrians by an existing bridge. The site design also encourages pedestrians, through bridges linking the CBD with the precinct.
The traffic report noted there would be a significant increase in pedestrian traffic as a future consideration.
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A UTAS spokesman said alternative parking provisions were being worked through but they were not in a position to detail the alternatives yet.
The specific area plan will also include a traffic impact assessment, which will deal with the overall network impacts of the transformation of the campus over time.
The SAP would give a more holistic view of how traffic will be managed as the campus emerges over three stages. It's expected the campus will be built between 2020 and 2024 after UTAS opted for staged delivery.
The parking report recommended stage one of the development for approval, after consideration of the traffic impacts of the library building.
It was one of several documents tabled as part of the development application for stage one.
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