1 Purpose and Scope

The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of submissions received during the exhibition of the draft Hornsby Town Centre Masterplan to assist Council in making a decision concerning progression of the Masterplan.

All submissions were considered as part of the analysis. This report does not attempt to capture all the information put forward in submissions, nor does it attempt to respond to submissions. Rather, the report focuses on providing an overview of submissions along with a snapshot of key topics identified and suggestions made.

Where a submission with the same content was sent to multiple addressees at Council or to members of the Council (i.e. Mayor, Councillors or General Manager) the submission was counted once.

This report also outlines and summarises submissions from key government departments and agencies, submissions from organisations, and presents details on the level of engagement through Council’s ‘Your Say’ webpage and Community Drop-in sessions including usage statistics and attendance rates.

In 2017, Council initiated the HornsbyTownCentreEast-SideReview(HTC Review) in response to the draft North District Plan (NDP) which identified Hornsby as a Strategic Centre and established State government housing supply and job creation targets for Hornsby to 2036. The Hornsby Town Centre East-Side Review included a strategic analysis of planning controls and the demand and feasibility of commercial/retail development on the east side of the Hornsby Town Centre (HTC).

In March 2018, the NDP was finalised, providing a 20-year plan to manage growth while enhancing the liveability, sustainability and productivity of the North District. The NDP identifies dwelling and employment targets for councils in the North District for the short, medium and longer term. The HTC was subsequently recognised as a Strategic Centre within the NDP.

In 2019, the scope of the HTC Review was expanded to include land on the west side of the rail line and subsequently became a deliverable under the Hornsby Accelerated LEP Review Program. The HTC Review project area boundary encompasses business zoned land to the east and west of the rail line as well as the rail land itself and vacant residential land immediately south of the Hornsby RSL Club. The aims of the Hornsby Town Centre Review are to develop a structure plan to provide for projected growth, strengthen the economic, employment and housing capacities of the HTC, improve public domain and activate the Hornsby commercial core (see Figure 2).

In March 2019, Councillors participated in a visioning workshop facilitated by SJB Planning Consultants to establish a vision and guiding principles for the Hornsby Town Centre Review project. The vision that was established by Council at the workshop (which has since been adopted in the LSPS) is:

‘Aplaceforpeoplethatreflectstheuniquenessofthebushlandsetting,integratedaroundkeypublic spaces,wherethecitymeetsthebush.Anactive,thrivingcentrethatexhibitseconomicdiversity, designexcellence,liveabilityandsustainability.’

A set of guiding principles was also established for the project and similarly adopted in the LSPS. Once the vision and principles were established, Council endorsed a multidisciplinary consultant team led by COX Architecture including Tract, Urban Apostles, Brickfields Consulting, Hectare Abraham Architects, JLL and WSP to undertake the HTC Review.

Preliminary consultation and a co-design workshop was undertaken with State agencies (i.e. Transport for NSW, Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Environment, etc.), landowners within the Hornsby Town Centre and broader community for insights, ideas and visions/principles testing. The results of this preliminary consultation were subsequently summarised in the Stakeholder Engagement Outcomes Report, which can be viewed here

Over three years, COX, its multidisciplinary team, and Council staff undertook technical analysis and prepared a suite of supporting technical documents to inform the creation of the draft Hornsby Town Centre Masterplan.

At its meeting on 13 July 2022, Council resolved to endorse the public exhibition of the draft Hornsby Town Centre Masterplan for a period of two months. Exhibition commenced on 20 July 2022 and closed on 30 September 2022.

Where are we now?

March 2019

Visioning and principles workshop

Councillors participate in visioning and principles workshop for the Hornsby Town Centre Review

May 2019

Hornsby Town Centre Review begins

A multidisciplinary consultant team lead by Cox Architecture engaged to commence work

Sep 2019 –Jun 2022

Technical review and Masterplan preparation

Technical analysis and preparation of supporting reports to inform the Masterplan

Jul –Aug 2019

Preliminary Consultation

Initial consultation with state agencies, landowners and the broader community for ideas and vision/principles testing

20 Jul –30 Sep 2022

Public exhibition

Publication of key exhibition documents on Council's website, as well as drop-in sessions to speak with the community

June 2023

Consultation Feedback Report

Report published on Council's 'Your Say' webpage for community review

TBC

Report to Council seeking finalisation of the Masterplan and endorsement of Implementation Package

Ongoing

Analysis of issues raised in submissions and consideration of amendments to the Masterplan

WE ARE HERE

4 How we consulted

Key consultation strategies used for the public exhibition of the Masterplan involved both online and physical opportunities to discuss matters with community stakeholders. In-person drop-in sessions at the Hornsby Library and a dedicated ‘Your Say’ webpage was used effectively during the public exhibition and discussed in further detail below.

4.1 Public Exhibition Documentation

Several key Masterplan documents were available to the public during the exhibition period including:

Draft Hornsby Town Centre Review Recommendations Report (HTCR Project Team – June 2022)

Transport Plan (WSP – June 2022)

Net Zero Carbon Precinct Strategy for Building Design (WSP – June 2022)

Landscape and Public Domain Plan (HTCR Project Team – 28 March 2022)

Economic Development and Employment Land Uses Report (JLL – June 2022)

Stage 2 Stakeholder Engagement Outcomes Report (HTCR Project Team – undated)

These documents were made available both online (via Council’s ‘Your Say’ webpage) and in hard copy (at Council’s Customer Service, Libraries and during drop-in sessions at Hornsby Library).