GSV + 10 Cowell St + 230 Victoria Rd + Amalgamation
Hi Everyone,
A quick update as we close out 2015.
Gladesville Shopping Village (GSV)
Christmas is upon us, and Hunters Hill Council has a Planning Proposal (attempt to change the planning rules, like making it much bigger than planning rules permit) for Gladesville Shopping Village – which we should expect to be exhibited to public while everyone is spending time with family, on holidays, or otherwise busy with school holidays.
10 Cowell St heritage listing
Hunters Hill Council deferred the heritage listing of 10 Cowell St on 30th July 2012 despite unopposed expert recommendation of heritage listing, apparently because Council ran out of time to consider the property – not because it was assessed as being unworthy of listing. It is important to note that 3 & ½ months earlier on 16th April 2012 Hunters Hill Council exhibited a draft of the Local Environmental Plan with 10 Cowell St listed for heritage protection.
Instead of answering the outstanding question of heritage listing, Hunters Hill Council delegated authority to the Mayor and General Manager on 26thNovember 2012, who negotiated option instruments which gave an interested developer a unilateral right to acquire 10 Cowell St (without a heritage listing) along with the open air car-park at 4-6 Cowell St, and property at 1c Massey St, whenever the developer is ready for it. The Council did not consult the public, did not put the sale out to tender, and did not build any protections into the transaction which would ensure compliance with local planning instruments instead of going to the state government for developer-friendly approval. Council has been prevaricating over the heritage listing that was finally resolved by Council on 9th June 2015 (almost three years after the original listing was deferred).
Amazingly, the application to the state government for approval of the heritage listing magically has NEW WORDS ADDED THAT WEREN’T RESOLVED BY COUNCIL, TO SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDE IT’S CURTILAGE. Of the 1,000+ items in the Hunters Hill Municipality enjoying the protection of a local heritage listing, 10 Cowell St is the only property that explicitly excludes the property’s curtilage in it’s listing.
An excellent piece by the Hunters Hill Trust addresses the Heritiage listing, at http://huntershilltrust.org.
Another excellent piece by the Hunters Hill Trust discusses amalgamation, and the relevance of heritage &10 Cowell Street, at:
http://huntershilltrust.org.
Hunters Hill Council has been spending our money telling us that after amalgamation we would end up with a Council that is out of touch with the community. The irony BURNS SO HARD.
230 Victoria Rd (corner Jordan St)
The redevelopment of what was known as the old ‘Consulere’ building, or NRMA, or where Anthony Roberts has his office, from a commercial building into a 7 storey building with 100 Units (allowing 100% foreign sales), is with Ryde Council for review before the Joint Regional Planning Panel will determine the DA. The JRPP meeting date isn’t set, yet, but we’re keeping an eye on it. A well-organised group of residents near the site have petitioned Ryde Council for more responsible development than (amongst other objections) pushing all vehicular traffic associated with 100 units down the narrow access street Gerard Lane). It would also be beneficial to retain some commercial space in Gladesville with traffic and parking activity not correlated to the rest of the increasing residential load, and having workers to patronise local businesses during the day instead of turning Gladesville into a suburb for sleeping.
Amalgamation – Ryde + Hunters Hill + Lane Cove
The Councils accuse the state government of not properly consulting and of ignoring the residents, but we note that consultation in our local government areas imposed the Joint Regional Authority model as the only option, and asked us if we wanted a “Superior Alternative” to a mega-merger. We should probably have expected more than 80% of us to have got that question right (by definition superior IS preferable to inferior). Thanks for the consultation. Those with opinions can just hang on to them in case anyone is interested, one day.
Here’s a link to the state government information (some might call it drivel or propaganda), which tells the other side of the story to the information that our Councils have spent our money feeding us (some might call that drivel or propaganda).
https://www.
Here’s a link to another interesting article – in which Hunters Hill even gets a special mention!
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/
Pretty soon even the residents of Hunters Hill Municipality might be able to see local DA’s that have been lodged, online, like those in Ryde and Lane Cove Municipalities can, at:
http://eservice.ryde.nsw.gov.
and
http://www.lanecove.nsw.gov.
Merry Christmas
Have a wonderful Christmas, enjoy the break, and stay safe if you’re on the roads. We’ll be back in touch in the new year, or earlier if the GSV Planning Proposal is put to public consultation in the interim.
From the team and Gladesville Community Group (inc)