The Trust is glad to report that Hunters Hill Council has ‘refused to support the exhibited Planning Proposal in its current form’ and the proposed amendments were strengthened to emphasise important issues raised by the community including:

• traffic volumes and management
• public transport
• parking
• vehicular access
• shareway
• heritage conservation including the cottage and Heritage impact study
• provision for community facilities and access, pedestrian links and more.

A lot will be riding on the proposed site-specific Development Control Plan and, if approved, how this links in with requirement for the review of the Local Environment Plan, new Local Strategic Planning Statements and further Master planning for the Gladesville precinct.

Council expressed appreciation for the volume and content of submissions that contributed to Council’s capacity to provide their report to the Department of Planning.

It all has a long way to go yet!

The owner of the Gladesville Shopping ‘Village’ site wants to amend the local planning instruments to increase the number of flats that can be built on the Gladesville Shopping Village site.  The site includes land that is currently a public access car-park on Cowell Street and the timber cottage at 10 Cowell St which was sold to the developer by the previous Hunters Hill Council.

Current planning controls allow approximately 180 apartments to be built on the site. The proposed changes would increase that to 280 apartments.

Read Council’s latest report and recommendations for the GSV proposal here

Council is holding a public meeting to discuss its response to the proposal:  6pm-7pm Thursday 30th August 2018 at 22 Alexandra Street, Hunters Hill. All welcome.  Enquiries:   Phillppa Hayes, Senior Strategic Planner 9879 9400

Council is running an information session on the planning proposal for the Gladesville Shopping Village site (land bounded by Massey Street, Cowell Street and Flagstaff Street).  The proposal is to add two clauses to Hunters Hill Local Environmental Plan 2012:

• parameters regarding the location and type of open recreation space to be provided
• linking future development applications that seek additional height and floor space to design excellence provisions.

When:     6:30-7:30pm Tuesday 27 February 2018
Where:   Council Chambers 22 Alexandra St. Hunters Hill

H o w    w e   g o t   t o   h e r e…

Check this recent post on our website: Gladesville Shopping Village update and the latest edition of Hunters Hill Trust Journal.  These documents have recently been released by Council: Gladesville Shopping Village Planning proposal, the Traffic Impact Assessment and GSV Planning proposal explanatory note.

Road Delay Solutions Pty Ltd’s traffic impact assessment report concluded that the following changes would be needed to support the proposed development of the Gladesville Shopping Village site:

• Partial closure of Flagstaff St, to the immediate south of Massey St
• Closure of Cowell St at Flagstaff St
• Single lane circulating roundabout at Cowell St and Flagstaff St intersection
• Two way vehicle movement in Cowell St between the Cowell St closure at Flagstaff St to Venus St
• Increase the current 42m long right turn bay in Victoria Rd northbound at Cowell St to 55m
• All vehicular access to the site from Flagstaff St
• Retain one way movement, northbound, in Flagstaff St, south, at Cowell St
• All permissible vehicle movements from Flagstaff St approach through the roundabout on Cowell St
• Timed right turn ban from Junction St into Flagstaff St during weekday commuter peak periods
• Marked pedestrian foot crossings in both Cowell St and Flagstaff St
• Set down bay in Cowell St, with 5 minute parking restriction, and Shared Zone within the Right of Way to the west of the site.

The full GSV Traffic Impact Assessment Report is available here.

In the August 2017 Journal we referred to the “recently approved” Planning Proposal for the Gladesville Shopping Village (GSV) site. Steve Kourepis, Hunters Hill Council’s Group Manager, Development and Regulatory Control has written to The Trust taking issue with the use of the word “approved”.

We agree that this needs clarification as it could be misconstrued that there is an approved scheme ready to be built on the GSV site or that changes to the Local Environment Plan (LEP) have been approved.  This is not the case because the planning proposal has not yet been exhibited.

We have discussed the matter with Philippa Hayes, Council’s Senior Strategic Planner.  In order to avoid any possible misunderstandings and in an attempt to make sense of the process, we have taken much of the relevant information directly from the DoP’s website as well as from Council’s website.  We hope this may help readers to understand more clearly the labyrinthine processes involved (fingers crossed – it’s complex):

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Q1.  Who will determine whether the Gladesville Shopping Village development has ‘design excellence’ (so the developers can make it even bigger) ?

Phillipa Hayes, Senior Strategic Planner at Hunters Hill Council says it is yet to be determined, however it is envisioned a ‘design review panel will be used to provide advice to the consent authority’.

Q2.  What will be the criteria for ‘design excellence’?

The Department of Planning specified the general criteria to be used for assessing design excellence in their letter to Council:  “Condition 1(c.) includes the requirement for design excellence and as recommended by the Sydney North Planning Panel should address considerations for design excellence along the lines of Clause 6.4(12) of the Parramatta Local Environmental Plan 2011.