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1. 66 units seems like a lot! I question the need for so many units over 6 levels. They will be small and pokey.
   Please ensure the building has enough parking for 66 units as well as visitors parking and parking for customers to the shops below.
   Please make sure it is an architectural design that adds value to the area unlike some of the recent multi-level buildings constructed along Victoria road. These have created a sunless wind tunnel along Victoria Rd and between buildings. Buildings should step back to allow sunlight and limit the wind tunnel effect.

2. I agree with Amanda, 66 units is a massive number of new flats, especially as we are told many flats in our area are empty. What is being done to insure they are not just sold to investors? What percentage of them is for public housing?

   It is extremely unpleasant walking around that area of Victoria Road and this turns people off using the businesses on that strip, is anything being done about that or will these flats compound that problem? Is there to be trees planted or any greenery? Balconies facing the traffic on Victoria Road will be unpleasant and not much use to tenants.

3. I’m sick of our lovely Gladesville suburb been completely over populated with these developments! Another 66 units without supporting infrastructure is a recipe for disaster and will continue to diminish our suburb. Surely another massive block of units is not what our suburb needs! Complete over supply with less and less demand!

4. I do not disagree with any of the comments that have been made above and, in fact, agree with all that has been said.

   However, I cannot understand why council is so proud that it has stopped potential villas and elegant manor houses (only 2 levels and maybe 4 units) being approved as it considers them inappropriate for the area; yet, it has the temerity to approve such poorly designed high rises which have plagued and destroyed the Gladesville area.

   If council spent more time demanding decent architectural designs for ALL of its buildings and allowed the smaller dwellings to be built then the area would not be so horribly congested and would accommodate both older and smaller households. We have enough McMansions as it is and very little smaller homes available. Not everyone wants to live in big unit developments or in McMansions.

   More than anything, I think architectural merit and pride in design is very much missing in what is being built to date particularly in unit developments. Is this the fault of the Council which does not appreciate good design or is it the building designers - or both?

5. It seems pointless even voicing an opinion on these developments. The land owners seek to maximise profit at the expense of amenity and good design. Council will no doubt, as precedents indicate, approve another soulless concrete set of boxes, urged on by state government to maximise residential construction along the public transport corridors. There was an opportunity before all this main road apartment/commercial applications began, to demand good design and integrated green and open space into the new streetscape but that was lost. How sad. We could have had suburban design to be proud of but unfortunately for all, what now exists is utilitarian, pokey, ugly and generally unpleasant to be around.....and largely, empty.

6. This is ridiculous, there is already enough multi storey buildings within Gladesville and no supportive infrastructure. Even the current shops, transport and local grocers have been completely busy during COVID-19, Gladesville is not set up sustainably to withstand more multi-storey dwellings. I strongly believe there are far too many unit complexes within Gladesville without the correct infrastructure, we are setting up our suburb to fail!

7. Ryde council reject this proposal. It is not sustainable for the area. Build more facilities that are needed in the area before you bring in even more people. How can another high rise be considered when there has not been enough investment into the infrastructure and services within the area first!? This will just create more people, more problems and more traffic in what is already a high traffic area. We don’t need Gladesville turning into another suburb full of high rises that makes it impossible to get in and out with all the congestion. There is literally no reason for existing reasons to live in Gladesville with the constant building interruptions due to construction and the horrible existing infrastructure that definitely will not handle the future increase.

8. Infrastructure is insufficient for the number of people already living within the bounds of Victoria and Morrison roads in Gladesville. Another high density complex like this will only exacerbate the issue. Traffic is substantial during peak times and there is inadequate parking often leading people to just stopping and parking illegally. Not only are the roads and parking areas insufficient and lacking in space but there are no petrol stations in Gladesville at all and there is not adequate shops or services to accommodate this significant number of people. Adding to the already overpopulated area without doing anything to address congestion and a lack of services is disgusting.

9. According to a recent ABC report the price of units in Lane Cove andMacquarie Park has fallen by and average of 6% in the last 12 months. What's the price fall in Gladesville going to be in the next 12 months? Plenty of apartments, no parking, not enough buses, no metro line, and nowhere to get petrol. This development will be a stranded asset - coloured congestion grey. Why do we need another 66 units? Mercator next door has 66, the build next to Dan Murphys has 66, the 4 apartment blocks surrounding the Aldi have 66, the 3 apartment blocks adjacent to Christ Church have 66. Are any of these blocks fully occupied? We, as residents, have to suffer not just through the build, but also the eyesore.
   And finally, is there any requirement for environmental considerations - solar panels, energy efficiency, trees or open space? If residents want to do a knock-down of their own house there are compliance measures - what about developers?

10. The infrastructure within the Gladesville area particularly in the bounds of Victoria and Morrison roads cannot cope with the addition of another high-rise set of units. As we all know cars park on the streets now as there is not enough parking provided by the developers. This will mean back streets that are already clogged will have even more cars to worry about. Plus the current Liberal govt wants to privatize the local Ryde bus terminal which will no doubt mean fewer bus services causing more issues for the residents. People who have moved to the Gladesville area have done so to get away from high-rise developments all we are doing is catering for short-term housing solutions. Plus most of these new developments the new shops are all empty as no business wnats to move into the area.

11. Walking through Sydney today, I am reminded of Churchill’s dictum: “We shape our buildings; thereafter, they shape us”. The anxiety of modern life partly arises from its conspicuous ugliness.

    Beauty should not be the preserve of an wealthy minority. It should be a public dividend. The ambitions of the great civilisations are wrought in their architecture. The Classical order of Parthenon and the Pantheon, the Gothic treasures of Prague and Venice or the slender lines of the Sydney Opera House lift us, by their numinous beauty, beyond the maelstrom of appetite and instrumentalism.

    Conversely, communities choked beneath a poultice of concrete and glass are being denied access to a fundamental aspect of human existence: the need for beautiful and well-planned spaces.

    Bondi Junction lays bare the risks of piecemeal urban planning. An eczema of concrete and glass, it assaults the sinuous, shifting topography of the east, as if somebody had taken a Sharpie to a Turner landscape.

    The problem with modern development is also echoed in the disposability of so many consumer goods: electronic devices, obsolescent within a year; cheap clothing manufactured by exploited labour; or the mountains of plastic that make up our supermarkets.

    The repurposing of heritage architecture is key to sustainable development. The natural proportions and subtle ornament of a Federation house anchor our place in the world; they are distinctly Australian. Such a building is loved and appreciated and can be repurposed as an office, a surgery or a school.

    Good architecture is not original or ambitious; it follows the forms and repetitions laid down by tradition. The genius of a Gaudí or an Utzon is too rare to justify the full creative licence which contemporary architects are afforded.

    The continuing demolition of heritage buildings and the aesthetic poverty of contemporary architecture is deeply depressing. I urge council to reject this proposal.

12. I agree with the above. Particularly Charlie Fine's eloquent essay.

    Gladesville has enough medium to high density development. What was a graceful suburb is being transformed into an urban slum. This development is not needed. Concrete highrise development is environmentally unfriendly, contributes massively to global warming and to local urban heat islands. As a Gladesville property owner I can also say that the glut of units is negatively impacting the value of existing apartments.

    Also I don't buy the argument that development increases economic growth. Any economist will admit that GDP per capita has barely moved in 20 years and externalities (heritage, environment, clean air, animals) have been severely impacted. We are worse off on all accounts.

13. Developers' financial contributions and the revenue generated by additional rates and taxes serves only to inflate Council's coffers so that it can irresponsibly spend those funds on Council's aggrandisement, particularly the uncalled for and unwarranted rebuild of the Civic Centre.

    Council has heard loud and clear from residents that we have far too many high rise buildings and, yet, studied deafness abounds. Whether it is this particular application or future applications, Council should not allow any more high rise developments in the City of Ryde and Gladesville in particular.

    I have yet to see any high rise building in this area which has any architectural merit and which could, in any way, enhance the streetscape or mitigate the detrimental impact of such over development.

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