Lindfield Village Hub: decision on major development after 439 submissions

Supporters of major redevelopment plans for Lindfield say they’re embarrassed by the current state of the town centre, but objectors say it could slash property prices and create “soulless high rises”.

Major plans to boost building heights in the Lindfield town centre are one step closer to being approved after hundreds of residents lodged feedback on the plan.

Ku-ring-gai councillors will meet next week to consider progressing the mega Lindfield Village Hub development which would stand up to nine storeys tall on a 1.3ha block of land west of Lindfield Station.

The hub would include 153 units, a new supermarket, library, community building and a childcare centre.

A concept plan of the development.

There would also be underground carparking and dining areas facing onto a central lawn park, along with outdoors terraces and landscaping works.

Ku-ring-gai Council, which has developed the project, said the high-rise hub would support state government housing targets and focus increased density in the town centre.

Plans for the site, located on the Woodford Lane car park between Beaconsfield Pde and Bent St, were open to feedback from July 30 and August 27 with 439 submissions lodged by residents to the council.

The development would be built west of Lindfield Station.

A report detailing responses showed a mixed bag of opinions with those against the development raising concerns over building heights, overshadowing, traffic congestion, parking, and the cost of the project.

Some submitters said the proposal bore “little resemblance” to earlier seven storey plans for the site developed with the community in 2018.

Others also questioned demand for another supermarket in the town centre, pointing to the current Harris Farm outlet and Coles, which is also due to expand under separate development plans.

“People living in Lindfield wish to retain the value of their homes and the high-rise soulless developments do nothing,” one resident added.

Some residents were in favour of the plan with one submission saying it would “bring life back to a dying community” and another said “Lindfield, as it is now, is not a place to be proud of when we have friends and relatives from other states and rural areas visiting us.”

A large number of submissions meanwhile called for a pedestrian bridge over the Pacific Hwy, connecting the Lindfield Village Hub site with Lindfield Station.

An overview of the building heights.

In response to the submissions, the council has recommended making eight changes to the development plan including a new 3m setback control in parts of the site to address overshadowing and provisions for affordable housing and parking access for the adjacent scout hall.

The council said there was no space on the western side of Pacific Hwy to accommodate lifts or stair access for a pedestrian bridge and the works could require currently unfunded land acquisition. It added parking impacts would be partly addressed by Transport for NSW’s plan to build a commuter parking station in the town centre.

The plans have been years in development.

A report to the next council meeting has recommended councillors adopt the planning proposal and draft development control plan and submit it to the Department of Planning to be finalised.

The meeting is the latest in a long development saga for the site that stalled last year due to a lacklustre construction tender response which the council attributed to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since then, the council has entered new rounds of negotiations with a “number of proposals” now being considered. It said a “viable commercial outcome for the project may be possible.”

Mayor Cedric Spencer said he wanted a decision on the development after more than four years of planning.

Ku-ring-gai Mayor Cedric Spencer

“We’ve done a lot of planning and consultation and I think we should get going on it – it’s important for the community to have an outcome,” he said.

“This is catching up on infrastructure that’s long overdue in the community.

“We are progressing with our negotiations with proponents from the tenders. Things are looking good.”

In a statement, the council said the gazetted planning proposal from the department would be the last step in the strategic planning process. The project would then be subject to the normal development application process required.

The council said the impacts of any specific development which may occur on the site as a result of the proposal would be considered in detail at the development application stage.

Benefits of the project, it said, including focusing housing growth near public transport and shops – as opposed to low density suburban streets in the LGA.

“The planning proposal recognises the continued growth and significant urban renewal of the Lindfield local centre towards a medium density residential and mixed-use urban hub, centred around the train station,” the plans state.

If approved, the development would create up to 141 jobs once completed.