On 9th April, Council held a ‘Library Consultation’ meeting inviting community feedback on the functional spaces required for a library building. The proposal is to demolish the Croquet Clubhouse, the Respite Care cottage, the Community Hall and Community Services building (pictured below) between 40-46 Gladesville Road at Hunters Hill Village, and replace them with a two storey (and potentially higher) development that includes a library and some of the functions of the existing buildings.  Neither traffic congestion nor parking were covered in the presentation.
 
The consultant architects have stated that the building is being designed to comply with the current LEP and – as Hunters Hill Village was not included in the recent planning reforms introduced by the NSW State Government – we will be looking for Council’s reassurance that the current LEP restrictions on height and density in this location will be maintained.
 
Questions and concerns were raised about the justification for this major new project as Council appears to have gone straight to a ‘Building Brief’ before standard preliminary steps such as the Business Case and Needs Assessment, Financial Risk or Cost/Benefit Analysis, have been made available to the community.
 
We are concerned that Council is producing this before the community has been given the rationale or full understanding of the drivers for this development.
 
We wrote to the Acting General Manager, Mayor and Councillors HERE to express our concerns and to request they seek further community input regarding the wider implications of this project, which would be a massive undertaking by Council. The General Manager replied that this is the initial step in developing the scope of the project, which will be costed and progressed to the DA stage, but we are concerned that Council is already spending $200,000 on the ‘Building Brief’.
 
June 2025 Update:
It was revealed at Council’s 23rd June meeting that this project could have a $30m price tag so it is even more vital that residents are fully informed of estimated build costs.
 
It is important to remember that a similar multi-storey development with residential units in this location was proposed as part of Council’s Property Strategy in 2020, and the community’s objections were clearly expressed at that time.  The Strategy was not supported at Council’s meeting of 26 April 2021 with a motion that ‘options and associated financial modelling be investigated prior to its adoption’ (See HHT JOURNAL December 2020 and our webpost of March 28, 2022).
 
We note the priority areas expressed by the community in the Community Plan 2022-2032 rated the need for Library services (not a Library building) in last place behind Managing financial sustainability:

  • Footpaths
  • Roads
  • Traffic management
  • Managing development and the development application process
  • Managing parks, playgrounds and open spaces. Innovation in sustainability.
  • Managing financial sustainability
  • Library services

Therefore we ask – what would the community’s views be if:

  • In order to deliver this facility, height limits were increased to three, four or more storeys along Gladesville Road.
  • There was the inevitable additional traffic adding to the congestion in this already popular zone.
  • The potential build cost of $30m meant Council had to take on a large amount of debt, rely on a developer or increase its recurrent deficit to staff and run a Library?

    •  
    The Trust supports the principles of open and transparent communication enshrined in Council’s recently endorsed Community Engagement Strategy and this process appears inconsistent with these principles.