Breaking news: Masterplan for Gladesville

Hi Everyone,

We are pleased to advise that a Motion was Resolved at Hunters Hill Council last night, for a Master Plan be developed for Gladesville!

Councillors Zac Miles and Ross Williams drafted and requested the Motion below, for a plan to look more broadly than just at the ‘key site’ where Gladesville Shopping ‘Village’ is about to be redeveloped.

We strongly welcome this initiative, which we hope will finally address more of the remaining concerns from the 290+ submissions that were lodged in response the 2013 Development Application for the GS’V’ site.

It is certainly ‘better late than never’. The last Master Plan was developed in 2005, long before the dramatic increase in dwellings targetted Gladesville by changing the controls for heights and floor-space-ratios under both Ryde and Hunters Hill Councils’ Local Environmental Plans.

The motion as drafted is copied below. During last night’s Council Meeting the movers clarified that the reference to Massey Lane was not intended to be the laneway between Pittwater Rd and Massey St, but rather (and only) the shared access-way used by pedestrians and vehicles between the GS’V’ shopping centre and the back of the premises fronting Victoria Rd.

Councillor Zac Miles spoke to the motion he had moved, commenting that Council must broaden its focus in Planning for Gladesville beyond just the ‘key site’ (which is the GS’V’ shopping centre and adjacent lands including parcels that were publicly owned until 2016), and the need to proceed promptly. Councillor Ross Williams spoke to the motion which he had seconded, commenting that Council should “not be responsible for a lost opportunity” and should “develop something we can all be proud of”. Councillor Jim Sanderson also spoke in favour of the motion, saying that he heartily endorsed it and emphasised that multiple meetings may be required as the public consultation and engagement are so critical. Councillor Justine McLoughlin commented on the value of continuing to advise Ryde Council and to invite participation by neighbouring Councils, an amendment readily agreed by Councillors Miles and Williams. The Motion was then carried unanimously.

The Motion is copied below, along with the note by staff which was included in the Agenda of the General Meeting. It was clarified that removing parking obligations from sites facing Victoria Road was not the intention of the movers of the motion. We expect that a proper process of consultation will be undertaken, and expertise used to develop quality planning instruments – rather than prematurely jumping to conclusions. Consistent with a great number of the submissions lodged in relation to the 2013 DA for the site, we see the provision of parking as something which must be ‘got right’. Accordingly, we strongly oppose relieving requirement by developers to provide parking as part of their applications to redevelop sites, until or unless the community is reassured about the adequacy of parking to meet both residential and commercial needs in Gladesville.

Also: please do not be distracted, please make a submission about the Planning Proposal which seeks to allow the developer to jam up to another 100 flats (180 becomes up to 280) on the site where Gladesville Shopping ‘Village’ is located (plus adjacent land already purchased). Our emails from 12th March (yesterday) might assist you with suggested content and commentary.

MOTION – Clr Zac Miles & Clr Ross Williams

1. Develop a master plan for the Gladesville precinct with a particular focus on:
a) Developing active frontages along Victoria Road with appropriate connectivity into the Gladesville key site;
b) Building an overarching vision for development of land, particularly between Pittwater Road and Batemans Road fronting Victoria Road;
c) Pedestrian access into and out of the site; including Investigating an above ground walkway from Trim Place into the Gladesville Village amongst other connectivity priorities into the surrounding residential areas;
d) Alleviating pressure from increased traffic flows stemming from development in the Gladesville precinct;
e) Developing a public pedestrian plaza along Massey lane with appropriate connectivity to the key site/shopping village and Victoria Road
f) Councils potential to acquire land for the public purpose and improved design outcomes for the community;
g) Improving access to public transport and the cycling network;
h) Assessment of heritage items and the impact of development of the Gladesville Village to those items;
i) Urban design outcomes and place planning priorities as outlined in the Future Gladesville report and the updated DCP for the Gladesville Village;
j) The relocation and development of Gladesville Library facilities or other council interfaces within the shopping village or adjoining sites.

2. That, consistent with Part 1 of the motion above, Council arrange for an ‘indicative
design concept’ to be developed through:
a) The holding of a public meeting of residents and stakeholders;
b) Workshopping concepts with residents and stakeholders;
c) Consultation with the Department of Planning.

3. That current landholders, and any entity’s/individuals who have live applications under consideration be made aware of the development of this master plan and its potential to affect their applications;

4. That the design concept outlined in Part 2 of the motion above be published on the Hunters Hill Council website and, subsequent to being brought back to council, go on public exhibition for comment;

5. That the Department of Planning is made aware of the development of a master plan for this precinct with the view to better  planning/design outcomes being made by way of amendment to the Hunters Hill LEP (2012);

6. That potential for funding from the Department of Planning for the development of this master plan is sought as appropriate.

Note from Group Manager Development and Regulatory Control

Matters that need to be considered on the above MOTION are as follows:

COMMENTS ON PROPOSED MASTERPLAN FOR GLADESVILLE

1. In reviewing the current DAs on Victoria Road it is clear that small developments each with substandard carparking arrangements opening onto the potential shareway (for which the legalities have not been worked out) would generate many issues such as – safety, poor urban design, aesthetics, servicing and access legalities.

So to make sense of the commercial area of Gladesville (for all Victoria Road properties – Pittwater down to Cowell Street (possibly further) – a suggestion is that we waive their carparking requirements. They have been upzoned on the premise that they are on an arterial road and have great access to Public Transport – therefore no provision for carparking makes sense. Once you say no carparking – the shareway and Massey lane can be imagined as great pedestrian spaces because they will not have openings to underground carparks on each individual
allotment. This means the developments on Victoria Road will not be so compromised.

To achieve no carparking entails employing a traffic engineer to run the numbers to support our case i.e. they would work with the full development capacity allowed by the controls and model the impacts on the shareway and Massey Lane with multiple openings and high levels of ingress and egress traffic. I imagine they will advise that the shareway and Massey lane may accommodate 1-2 openings to
underground parking and based on this we require site amalgamations.

So the end result would be if you can achieve a large site by amalgamation of a number of site along Victoria Road (individual building form and structure must be retained) you could provide for underground parking. If you cannot achieve a large amalgamation they your other option is to develop without carparking provision.

As a sweetner we could offer “Go Get” carspaces in the Council carpark or GSV development.

2. If we require amalgamations/no carparking – this means we would not end up with the “missing tooth” scenario currently an issue with the current Victoria Road Development Applications. Therefore more thought and possibly expert advice is required before we pursue any decisions to buy property.

3. We already have 1 Master Plan and 2 Reviews of the DCP for Gladesville- plus numerous other base study reports. Please see Council webpage: planning & heritage/future Gladesville/ – for a full history of the joint strategic planning for the Gladesville Commercial Area by Hunter’s Hill and City of Ryde (see below for summary table).

[Gladesville Community Group comment: the table that appeared at this point of the note does not copy well into this email. Readers may view the table within Item 3.2 on pdf page 27 of the Agenda for the Council Meeting at the link http://www.huntershill.nsw.gov.au/Page/Download.aspx?c=4546]

4. Masterplans are expensive and take a long time to develop and the architects/urban designers who prepare them are not specialists in traffic resolution issues.