At their meeting next Tuesday 14 February, Councillors will be considering a recommendation from the Officers that:
A. Council authorises the General Manager to undertake exclusive negotiations with Proponent A, with the objective of refining their proposal and agreeing the terms of a Project Delivery Agreement.
B. A report be brought to Council on the outcome of the negotiations, which if successful may result in Council resolving at a future meeting to execute a PDA with Proponent A.
C. Council confirms allocation of proceeds from the future sale of the Lindfield Library site to the Lindfield Village Hub project.
Councillors voted on these same recommendations at its December 2022 meeting. However, they voted to defer their decision until February because "they needed more time". We sent the message below to each Councillor encouraging them to vote in favour of the recommendations so that the project could proceed.
The project has now been on the drawing board for 10 years and the cost to the end of December 2022 is $10,460,377. It's about time we saw more progress.
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team
Demolition of 4-6 Bent St
The State Government set October 1st as the date by which council had to show some progress against the Lindfield Village Hub or else lose the commuter carpark funding. With council yet to select a developer, they have instead decided to demolish 4-6 Bent St Lindfield over the next 6 weeks and sacrifice the rental income in the name of showing progress and securing the funding.
Let's hope we get some real progress with a final tender decision in the November council meeting.
Any News on the Lindfield Village Hub?
Unfortunately the answer is NO!
It has been some time since we’ve communicated with you and that’s because there hasn’t been much to say.
On 15 February Councillors had their first Council meeting since they elected the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and appointed Councillor representatives to various Committees. Some of our Committee members watched the proceedings via Live Stream. We were favourably impressed by the chairmanship of the new Mayor, Jeff Pettett, as he handled the large agenda very competently. All Councillors appeared to be heard and had ample time to ask questions and say what they wanted to. The behaviour of the Councillors was very businesslike and respectful. We are pleased to note that this behaviour is much more conducive to a cohesive and productive Council than some of the performances we witnessed in the previous term. We compliment all Councillors and hope that it continues.
While there were no agenda items directly related to the implementation of the Hub project at that meeting, there were some references to funding in documents related to agenda items. These are of note and interest to our community.
GB5: “Council’s investment Portfolio performance for December 2021.” and Note at foot of this item ” *** During December 2021, Council received a $9.8M grant from Transport NSW for Lindfield Village Hub Car Park. As part of the Grant’s terms and conditions Council is required to keep the funds in an independent at call account for audit purposes.”
GB19: “The Ku-ring-gai Long Term Financial Plan and the Delivery and Operational Program 2018-2021 and Operational Plan 2020-2021 identify projects which are to be funded from asset sales, including:
major town centre projects such as Lindfield Village Hub and Turramurra Hub;”
We assume, but don’t know of course, whether the GB19 item means that they will now use some of the proceeds from the sale of the current library site to help fund the Hub project. Support Lindfield and the community at large have been lobbying for that to happen for years.
Unfortunately, we have no information about the status of the project or anything resembling a timeline. On 30 January we wrote to all Councillors with some suggestions for next steps. To date we have had no replies from any of the Councillors. None of the Councillors has reached out to us since the January Council meeting. So we are still in the dark.
As usual, we appreciate your comments and feedback. Please write to us at info@supportlindfield.net. When/if we get any information about the project we will, of course, pass it on to you.
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team
HOW DO WE GET THE LINDFIELD VILLAGE HUB BUILT?! 😢
Q. HOW DO WE GET THE LINDFIELD VILLAGE HUB BUILT?
A. BY ELECTING COUNCILLORS WHO ARE FOCUSED ON OUTCOMES FOR OUR COMMUNITY
We need your donation to reach our target and support our campaign to elect strong and community focused Councillors. We're over half way there!
You can donate in one of three ways;
EFT to our bank account BSB 633 000 account no. 147 440 192 name Support Lindfield Inc (Your reference first name + last name)
or click on this link DONATE to pay by secure credit card or Paypal.
Why do we need change?
Your Council has spent $9 million over 9 years on the Lindfield Village Hub project and achieved nothing, zero, zilch.
Support Lindfield is run by a small group of dedicated locals with limited resources. Your donation will help us drive change to get the Hub built.
Your donation will help fund a community campaign to make the Lindfield Village Hub a core issue in the Council election on 4th September.
Along with other community groups we are identifying a group of candidates (including some existing Councillors who have supported the project) who are seriously up for the job and focused on delivering outcomes for the community.
Your donation will be used to design/print/distribute flyers and posters and Facebook promotions.
Thank you.
We could use your talents
If you have skills and experience in communications, marketing, advertising campaigns, and graphic design or are just good at getting things done, then put your hand up. We need your professional help with the community campaign in the coming election. Contact us at info@supportlindfield.net
And please pass this along to your local friends and neighbours.
Here’s a reminder of the Lindfield Village Hub journey….. or read the full timeline here
In 2012 Support Lindfield approached the then Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian who put a hold on plans to build a multi-storey commuter carpark behind the West Lindfield shops to allow time for a better project to be conceived. The Community worked together to create a vision for the Lindfield Village Hub that included a town square, library, other community facilities, café precinct, specialty retail and supermarket.
Woolworths put forward several proposals to build the project, like those they have delivered for other Sydney Councils. They would fund the building of the Hub in return for a lease on the supermarket space with Council funding limited to fitting out the community facilities using funds generated from the sale of the current library site. No additional Council/ratepayers money would be required.
Council rejected these offers and instead have pursued an expensive consultant-led process to identify requirements and determine an alternate design. Despite an exhaustive tender process Woolworths is effectively the only development group still interested and Council remains unwilling to commit to starting the project. The amount spent on the project to date equates to around $3300 per Lindfield household.
We need a Council committed and capable of serving the community by overseeing appropriate planning policy and the development and revitalisation of shopping precincts and community facilities.
Support Lindfield will endorse candidates in all Ku-ring-gai Council wards who will commit to making the Hub happen. We welcome collaboration with other community groups in Ku-ring-gai who also see the need for change. Email us at info@supportlindfield.net if you are interested in standing in the 2021 Council elections or working with us for change.
The Support Lindfield Team
What is Council Doing with the Lindfield Village Hub?
Dear Resident,
We like to give you an update on the progress of the project from time to time. When there are long periods of silence from us, it just means there’s not much to tell you. This is mostly the case now but we thought we would at least let you know what we’ve been doing to further the cause. But first, a few facts.
Time frame of the project - 8 1/2 years
Cost of the project to end December 2020 - $8.85m
Expression of interest issued - October 2018
Request for tender issued to 5 shortlisted developers - December 2019
Tenders closed - April 2020 (two tenders received; Fabcot (Woolworths & Aqualand)
Council decision (below) - December 2020
Do you think this is a reasonable time frame and cost?
Recent Council Decisions
At the December Council meeting, Councillors resolved to:
Note that the Lindfield Village Hub tender and subsequent negotiation period has coincided with the the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a global economic downturn, uncertainty in the property market and impacting on project viability and competitive tension.
Note than an offer has not yet been received that is financially viable.
Continue to negotiate with any possible providers, while undertaking a review of Council’s project assumptions and objectives.
On 21 January, we wrote to the General Manager as follows:
Dear John,
The resolution on this item stated 3 reasons for not proceeding with the Hub. I believe A. is a ferfy. B. is always going to be an excuse unless you get the “self funding” outcome. Everyone knows it is not viable. The community needs to have information about why it is not viable. Item C. is “continue to negotiate with any possible providers, while undertaking a review of Council’s project assumptions and objectives.” Can you please tell me what this means and when there will be a report on action made public.
It appears to me that Council officers have “put their pencils down” and aren’t going to do anything. I can’t believe that there is not some agreement with Fabcot that is acceptable to all parties including the community. It is simply breathtaking and an appalling lack of accountability that we are 8 years down the track, over $8.35m has been spent, and nothing substantial has happened. The community is being cheated out of the facilities it deserves while a tired old parking lot remains wasted space. I look forward to your reply.
On 12 February we received the following reply from Geoff Douglas, Group Lead Major Projects. Geoff is responsible for the project.
Thank you for your email dated 21 January 2021 re the LVH Council resolution of 8 December 2020.
At that meeting Council resolved that a review of the project’s assumptions and objectives should be undertaken. This process has commenced. A report will be brought Council for its consideration as soon as it is completed. Information will be shared with the community where it does not comprise any ongoing negotiations.
Thank you for your ongoing interest in the Lindfield Village Hub project.
We’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions as to whether this is an adequate response, however our Committee didn’t think it was. Some of our responses are not printable!
Recent Support Lindfield Activity
In late 2019 and early 2020, we submitted a GIPA (freedom of information) request to Council to obtain a suite of documents and the LVH Request for Tender (consisting of 60 separate documents). Now more than a year later and Council continually to refuse to release the documents, we submitted an application to NCAT (NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal). Mediation, as part of this process, failed to entice Council to release all the documents, most of which are those that the community would be interested in seeing. We now proceed to a hearing which will take another few months. This has taken a huge amount of time by a couple of our Committee members however, we believe that it is worth the effort so an independent legal process will determine if the community has a right to the information the Council continues to fiercely guard. This is all because of Council’s lack of transparency and their continual refusal to share information that the community has a right to.
Talk to Paul Fletcher
As you know, Paul Fletcher is our Federal Member for Bradfield. Paul has always been very helpful and supportive of Support Lindfield and the Hub project. In 2018 he went public to support Woolworths’ unsolicited proposal to Council which we also supported. While he can’t directly impact the progress of the Hub, he has considerable influence in the Liberal party and several of the Councillors (including the Mayor) are members of the Liberal party. Paul is having a series of “listen post community meetings” on 6 March and we encourage you to go along and voice your concerns in whatever way you wish, about the lack of progress with the LVH. Here are times and locations he will be on Saturday 6 March:
Roseville shops - 10.00 to 10.30am
East Lindfield shops - 11.00 to 11.30
West Lindfield shops - 12.00 to 12.30
As usual, we will keep you posted on any progress that occurs with the project, but we’re not too optimistic. Just keep this in mind when you vote at the Council elections in September. And we are also keen to hear from you at info@supportlindfield.net.
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team
Working for the Community
A win for the community
Last Tuesday evening Councillors bowed to community pressure and did not support building height of 10 and 14 storeys in the Lindfield Village Hub! What a victory for people power! That’s the good news.
The not-so-good news is that they also voted against the original 2015 seven storey option. They did, however vote in favour of a maximum of 9 storeys and building height no higher than the highest building in Lindfield, which is the Aqualand building in Lindfield Avenue, at 8 storeys. The resolution also nominated the minimum size of the park, plaza, library and community facility which are the same size as the original 2015 Council plan. A copy of the resolution is at this link: Council Resolution
We thank all of you who took the time to send messages to Councillors both before the July meeting and leading up to the August meeting. They obviously had an effect and some common sense and listening to the community has prevailed even though we couldn’t quite get to the sought-after elusive seven storeys.
Your Support Lindfield committee is currently planning our next steps to build on this win and keep the pressure on Council to deliver what the community wants. We will await the publishing of the timetable for the next stages of the project. Geoff Douglas, the head of Major Projects for Council, said at the meeting that the Request for Tender would now not be issued before Christmas as there is more work to be done as a result of the change from the published plan to the compromise solution. We think that that is taking too long as it is already overdue according to the timeline currently on the Council website.
Surely the revision can’t take 4 months!
Jonathan O’Dea’s Address in Parliament
As our local State MP, Jonathan has constantly provided valuable support for us at Support Lindfield and for sensible development in the Hub. On Tuesday, the day of the Council meeting, he addressed the Legislative Assembly on the subject of the Hub. He was very pleased with the response from the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes. Please read the Jonathan's Address at this link. Thank you, Jonathan, for recognising the community’s needs.
We would be very interested to hear your reaction to Council’s decision and invite you to email us at info@supportlindfield.net We will be considering our next steps and how to keep you, the community, involved as the project moves to its next stage. Thank you again for your support for this larger-than-life project that will positively transform the mid North Shore…….. sometime in the future! Who knows when?
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team