How can i add a new pokestop near me?

You hope that the portal gets accepted. Whether it's added into POGO is entirely deterministic and you can find out beforehand whether it becomes a stop or not and whether a new gym will be created or not.

Worth noting that the level required to submit is 10 out of 16, which does take a fair amount of playing.

Yep, but most portals that aren't in a S2 level 17 cell with another poke stop or gym usually become pokestops within 24-48 hours. We have a level 15 Ingress player on campus who has lit it up with new stuff - two new gyms (and working on 1-2 more) and maybe 15 new stops. It does work, and rather efficiently.