487 Pacific Highway Asquith NSW 2077

To the new council.

Given that all the decisions have been made on planning and the developments will go ahead regardless of public opinion, can you please turn your attention to the retail strip at Asquith.

As the population grows in our suburb there is community demand for a pleasant , contemporary , village based retail experience.

We have a run down , dirty and graffiti ridden excuse for a shopping precinct that is suffering from neglect and is a disappointment that the local community shares.

As a council, please show leadership and interest in our community and start a consultation and process to transform this space to a vibrant, engaging hub serving the local community.

I completely agree with the comments of Angela Ratcliffe regarding the derelict retail strip in Asquith. We recently bought a house nearby and have been dismayed by the grotty retail precinct. 25 years ago this area was more pleasant. We moved from an apartment in Wahroonga and the comparison is a shocking disappointment. We have lovely, friendly, house-proud neighbours and we all deserve better than this. Someone is making a lot of money from the local developments and it should be spent to upgrade the area. Also, the station should be upgraded for better accessibility. Council should lobby Transport for NSW to ensure its residents have the same good accessibility as nearby rail stations.

I completely agree with both Angela Ratcliffe and Jan Morgan! My young family avoided considering Asquith & Mount Colah area for many years due to the disappointing aesthetics of many of these shops along the pacific highway in the Hornsby council area. Thankfully! We moved in to this area and couldn’t be happier! The community is incredible and Hornsby council often listens and takes on the feedback. The new builds present well and Hornsby council does a great job at holding developers to account for the quality of the build builds. Many of these properties sell well over 1 million dollars. The council will reap the rewards of the investment of cleaning up these shopping strips.

+ 1 for an upgrade to the shops. I went to Asquith Public school as a kid...I'm now 40 years old and the shops have not changed or been upgraded in that entire time.

Given the volume of new residents that are now being pumped into the area due to the high ride apartments the population density has increased significantly and the flow of traffic around the shops is heavily congested, even at quiet times and becoming quite dangerous to drive and walk given how poorly designed the area is for the volume of foot and vehicle traffic it now needs to service.

Time to act council.

Completely agree with the comments above. Given all the new apartments and townhouses both Mount Colah and Asquith deserve new and updated shopping districts. The current ones are embarrassing for locals who just want to be able to walk to the local shops and have it be a nice experience rather than drive to Turramurra and Wahroonga to meet any friends for a coffee.

Whilst the shopping strip at Asquith is rundown and an eyesore. The council are not developers. The extent of influence stops at the DCP. The zoning and build types are set in the DCP which is what facilitates development to occur. Asking the council to act or start consultation is outside of the council remit. Having said that, there have been a few attempts by developers to get all the current owners on the same page about selling. Sadly each time has failed to reach agreement resulting in what your see today, decaying buildings. Out of interest, there’s a mobile phone tower on one of the buildings which no doubt generates a tidy ongoing income for one of the owners. Why would you agree to sell and basically do yourself out of a stable and constant income stream?

This area of shops in Asquith is currently zoned for approximately 23m high units and commercial premises or about 10 to 12 storeys high and has been since the Hornsby released plans for local districts in approx. 2010. The council does not own the shops. It can only provide a guideline for what is to be built. Any new building will be about double the height of the current new apartment blocks in the area. If the owners were willing to sell, then that is what will be built. Until the sale happens, then there is unlikely any great changes likely to happen.

I totally sympathise with everyone else in regards to the subject matter.
Please also note, that all the privately-owned properties across the road from Mt Colah Train station, and the newly built apartments, are still under the old zoning with bushfire overlay right behind them.
Unless the council considers some creative ideas from developers and/or assists in creating an asset protection zone and rezoning these lots, it's simply not feasible for any developer or investor to take on this project!
I totally agree with the previous message from Leonard, other than the council's assets, Hornsby council has no obligation to upgrade these privately owned lots, and unless the local landlords unite and get together with a creative plan to propose to the Council, nothing will happen to the decaying buildings on the western side of Pacific Hwy.

@Adam Bahrami - Page 30, Paragraph 2 of the Hornsby Local Strategic Planning Statement states:
"One of the key constraints for future housing is our
bushland setting. Our bushland is one of the Shire’s
assets but also presents a significant bushfire risk to a
large portion of our population. Until the Rural Fire
Service is satisfied that Bushfire Evacuation Risk
Modelling and Management Planning is adequate,
Council will not support increased densities north of Yirra
Road, Mount Colah. (Refer to ‘Sustainable’ chapter)"

The complete 100 Page document can be found here.
https://shared-drupal-s3fs.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/master-test/fapub_pdf/Local+Strategic+Planning+Statements/LSPS+2020/HSC5432+Hornsby+LSPS+March+2020_v13_S-1036.pdf

We just couldn't wait any longer so sold up while the market was paying silly money for properties subject to the Yirra Road rule within the current LSPS.