Lindfield Village Hub

On Tuesday 21 November Transport for NSW representatives met with Council representatives and advised that $9.8 million in funding for commuter car parking at the Lindfield Village Hub would be withdrawn.

The funding, which was awarded to the Council in 2021, was set aside for 135 commuter parking spaces as part of the Hub’s underground car park. 

Councillors had been due to meet at the Council meeting on 21 November and decide on the preferred development partner to build the Hub.

As a result of the Transport for NSW decision to withdraw the funding, the Council was unable to proceed with an announcement on its preferred development partner.

The funding withdrawal means the Hub’s status is now uncertain.

The Council has made representations to the Premier, Minister for Planning, Minister for Transport and the peak body for local government LGNSW to restore the funding and is awaiting a response.

At the Council meeting on Tuesday 14 February, Council voted to progress negotiations with a preferred development partner, whose identity will remain confidential until the negotiations are concluded.

Bent Street Lindfield

Work has commenced on clearing a site in Bent Street Lindfield to prepare for a future commuter car park.

When built, the commuter car park will form part of the Lindfield Village Hub project. The Council will be making an announcement about the Hub project before the end of 2022.

Clearance of the Bent Street site is being carried out as part of a funding agreement between Ku-ring-gai Council and the NSW Government (Transport for NSW).

The work will begin in October 2022 and take approximately four to six weeks, weather permitting.

Council’s contractors will minimise any noise and dust as much as possible during the site clearance.

The Woodford Lane car park remains open to the public.

In July 2022 Council received detailed proposals to develop the Lindfield Village Hub project. These proposals are now being evaluated and a report will be presented to Council later this year.

Planning proposal for Lindfield Village Hub confirmed

The NSW Government has approved the planning proposal for the Hub project, locking in community facilities as part of the development. 

The planning proposal was given the green light by the NSW Department of Planning & Environment on 28 March, as an amendment to the Ku-ring-gai Local Environmental Plan (LEP).

It means that the community facilities proposed by the Council are now confirmed as part of any Hub development.

The Lindfield Village Hub is one of the largest urban renewal projects Ku-ring-gai Council has undertaken in its 100-year history.

On the site of the current Woodford Lane car park between Beaconsfield Parade and Bent Street, the Hub is proposed to contain a village green with cafes and dining areas facing onto a new public park. A modern library, community centre and childcare facility will form part of the Hub, along with underground parking.

The LEP amendment approved by the government last week enables the Council to move to the next procurement phase of the project, which is a Request for Detailed Proposals from the market.   

The bidders who submitted initial offers to build the Hub on behalf of the Council will be invited to submit more detailed proposals, including designs and a firm commercial offer. A deadline of 12 weeks will be set for detailed proposals to be submitted which are expected by July 2022. 

Mayor Jeff Pettett said bid documentation was being fine-tuned to align with the LEP amendment and would be released to the market by mid April.

“This is a very significant step in the project and will allow us to see firm financial bids for the Hub.” 

On Friday 14 January 2022 the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales (NCAT) gave its decision in relation to its review of a GIPA application brought against Ku-ring-gai Council in relation to release of confidential information relating to the Lindfield Village Hub project. Council argued that the information should not be released.

Full details of the decision are available here  

The Tribunal’s decision largely agreed with Council’s argument that the confidential information should remain confidential, with 5 documents to be released and 42 documents to remain confidential.  The following is a direct quote from the Tribunal’s decision:

“There is a significant public interest in the information sought by the applicant. However, principally because of the nature of the withheld information and the fact that negotiations between the Council and parties who might develop the Project have not concluded, there is also a significant public interest in maintaining the confidentiality of that information. For most of the information sought, the Tribunal has concluded that the public interest considerations against disclosure outweigh the public interest considerations in favour of disclosure.”

The 5 documents are released to the public below as per the NCAT decision 

Indicative Master Plan Report - document 4(PDF, 21MB)

Indicative Stratum Lot Plans - document 6(PDF, 5MB)

Geotechnical Report - document 7(PDF, 15MB)

Single Line Diagrams - document 15(PDF, 2MB)

Letter from Mirvac 28 October 2019 - document 4a(PDF, 39KB)

Council at its meeting of 16 November considered a report regarding the next steps in the negotiations for construction of the Lindfield Village Hub. The report was considered in a closed session of the Council meeting, due to the commercial-in-confidence nature of its content.

However in the interests of providing transparency to the community on progress in the negotiations, the following information has been made public. 

This is an edited version of the Executive Summary of the confidential report. 

Edited extract from the Council report of the 19 October LVH Confidential Report

To update Council on the outcomes of the ongoing LVH procurement negotiations and to outline next steps.

BACKGROUND:
On 20 July 2021 Council considered a revised market engagement strategy for the LVH project. Having considered the strategy, Council resolved to continue negotiations.

The initial stage of the negotiations has now been undertaken, with a number of proposals received.  Analysis of the proposals suggests that a viable commercial outcome for the project may be possible.  The results indicate a significant turnaround from the  offers received during the 2020 tender and post tender negotiations. 

RESOLUTION:

It was resolved that Council:

A.   Note the significant improvement in market conditions, sentiment and commercial responses since the 2020 tender and post tender negotiations.

B.   Continue to progress negotiations.

At its December meeting the Council unanimously resolved to:

• Note that the Lindfield Village Hub tender and subsequent negotiation period has coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a global economic downturn, uncertainty in the property market and impacting on project viability and competitive tension.
• Note that 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.

In relation to the Planning Proposal, a conditional Gateway Determination was received from the Department of Industry and Planning on 22 January 2021 and a further response is being prepared by Urban Planning in the Strategy & Environment Department of Ku-ring-gai Council (KRG Planning).

Council staff are undertaking exclusive negotiations with a preferred party for the Lindfield Village Hub project, following Council’s resolution to do so earlier this year.

The negotiations are complex and involve developing and drafting the contractual terms of a substantial package of legal documents and their annexures, to be finalised later this year.

Following this, works can progress to prepare plans for a development application (including community consultation) and to fine tune project design and costings which we would anticipate would occur during 2024.

As part of the current negotiations, some additional site soil tests will be conducted in the Woodford Lane car park on 28 and 29 June. This will involve drilling a number of small bore holes into the ground using a mobile drill rig. The works will require one or two car spaces to be closed off for a couple of hours for each bore hole. This will occur in a number of locations in the car park, but only one or two car spaces will be affected a time, so disruption will be kept to a minimum.