Saving the Village

Last night there was a meeting – local architects and designers spoke to local residents about the need for a meeting place and sense of community to be instated and continued for generations.  They were strategising against the proposed rezoning of Council land.   “For the sake of our children and grandchildren, it’s vital the rezoning proposal is axed”.
Does this sound familiar?
How come you didn’t know about the meeting?
Well the meeting was in Newport on the Northern beaches, a place which succeeded inside the public domain to become “Pittwater” a mere 18 years ago.
They spoke about keeping small business vital and engendering a sense of community through the integration of business with open space.  
Their crusade has been a long one but they are putting together some cold hard facts to help the Council make more appropriate and informed decisions.  For instance the local residents’ group survey substantiates that the ratio of car spaces to commercial Newport area is 8.2 spaces per 100 sm, a figure which proves that there is more than adequate provision for now and in the near future.  They have drawn up professional plans and costed viable alternatives.  They have dreamt the dream.  Made me wonder, what are the FOL (Friends of Lindfield) up to at the moment.  Where is the vision for a community centre, the preservation and revitalisation of small business and the provision for “generations to come”.   Newport are taking action to control Council Land (the rate payers land) and help them put together a “demonstration site” including green walls watered by grey water.  A site that will help improve the lifestyle of the “Newport Village” even though it is dissected by a main thorough fare.

In Lindfield we have a perfect opportunity as well – right in the middle of Lindfield to fight for a similar centre blending commercial, residential and social activity.  However the site that was fought over 10 years ago actually no longer exists as the ownership of the proposed “Green Square” site has now been split and no schedule for development of the area has been committed to by owners or by the Department of Planning who are responsible for this site.

There is of course the Department of Planning’s Draft North Subregional Strategy which calls for Hornsby to create 11,000 new dwellings and 9,000 new jobs by 2031 while Ku-ring-gai’s target is 10,000 dwelling and 4,500 jobs by 2031.  This is a stated increase of 17% from 79,000 in 2001 to a total of 92,500 by 2031.  So I thought it would be a good idea to go to Ku-ring-gai  Council and ask how many of these homes have already been built.  They unfortunately couldn’t tell me because the person who used to do this calculation left “3 years ago, and hasn’t been replaced as it is too expensive to keep providing this sought of information”.  Hmmm.
Please do email me with your information!  christindoutty@lindhouse.com