M2 Upgrade Project Report

Ray White Beecroft alerted local residents to the 5-storey rezoning plan for the Beecroft Shopping Village. Despite overwhelming local opposition (see my blog of 21 July), Hornsby Shire kept the Village in their rezoning plan which will be gazetted soon.

A 2 year $550 Million dollar project is about to start to widen the M2 as it passes through Beecroft and Cheltenham. The M2 Upgrade Submissions and Preferred Project Report is available at http://www.hillsm2upgrade.com.au/. It's a 277 page document. If you don't want to read it all, here are some excerpts of special interest to Beecroft residents:

Pages 82: "Hornsby Shire Council noted that access to some bush walking tracks would be restricted in areas where the walking tracks pass below the M2 Motorway bridge structure, including under Terrys Creek and Devlins Creek. Provision of alternative paths would not be possible as work sites under these bridges would cover the entire area."

Page 85: "As per recent correspondence (dated 13 November 2009) between the RTA and Hornsby Shire Council, the Kirkham Street overbridge road approaches were constructed by Hills M2 and handed over to Hornsby Shire Council in 1997 in accordance with the requirements of the original Project Deed. Maintenance and repair of the road surface is currently the responsibility of Hornsby Shire Council. Repairs to Kirkham Road bridge are not part of the project."

Page 153 "The comments about the walkway to Beecroft station appear to relate to the path under the M2 Motorway linking Allerton Road to Chilworth Recreation Reserve. Wherever possible the M2 Upgrade project would maintain existing pedestrian access arrangements during construction. However, the path under the motorway viaduct over Devlins Creek near Chilworth Reserve may need to temporarily close during construction for safety reasons. Due to topography, limited space and physical work requirements it may not be possible to maintain safe pedestrian access through this area during construction."

Page 196 "Community consultation and submissions received in response to the public exhibition of the environmental assessment have highlighted concerns over the need for vegetation clearing near the Murray Farm Road overbridge, along the southern side of the M2 Motorway. In response to these concerns, and issues raised in relation to noise wall locations during construction, the design of the M2 Upgrade project at this location was reviewed and amended. The amended design generally shifts upgrade works to the north of the M2 Motorway, and removes the need for vegetation clearing to the south."

Page 233 "The design of the M2 Motorway Upgrade project around the Kirkham Street/Murray Farm Road overbridge has been reviewed, and an alternative design developed to shift carriageway widening works from the south to the north of the M2 Motorway. Compared with the original design presented in the environmental assessment, the alternative design would result in a significant reduction in vegetation clearing, a reduction in the length of noise walls affected during construction works, and would remove the need for works to be undertaken within Devlins Creek and surrounding riparian areas."

Page 239: "Construction areas for the amended design can, in most cases, be accessed directly from the M2 Motorway. The key exception is widening of Kirkham Street/Murray Farm Road overbridge, which would require access off Murray Farm Road/Kirkham Street. Final access routes would be established based on detailed design and construction methodologies, and while some limited access to local roads may be required, heavy vehicle movements along local roads would be significantly less than envisaged for the original design. As a consequence, the potential for traffic noise impacts associated with construction vehicles using local roads would be significantly reduced."

The plan to use Allerton Road for construction access into Chilworth Reserve has been dropped, they will instead use the northern access as proposed by Michael Stove in the submission by the Beecroft / Cheltenham Civic Trust.

Great cocktail party, great art show!

On Friday 24 Sep, Ray White Beecroft sponsored a cocktail party and art show on behalf of the Lions Club of Beecroft / Cheltenham. There was a tremendous turnout from the local populace. Here Douglas Macarthur is seen serving champagne to Greg Smith, our local MP.

This is just one corner of the art show, in two rooms of the Module, organised and curated by Sharon Aldrick, Ray White Beecroft's talented marketing manager. Sharon is a professional photographer and featured some of her works.

NDT write-up of new property

Ray White Beecroft's new listing "Glanis Gerraween" had a front cover photograph and a full page editorial in the Northern District Times. Not surprisingly, as the house hasa great history and a great character. Built in 1936 in Art Deco style, the double brick house is on about 850 sqm of land.

The house is scheduled for auction on Saturday 9 October, if not sold prior.

Sold on the Day of the Auction

Another happy Ray White Beecroft customer! The brand new house didn't reach reserve during the actual auction, but after some negotiation with the highest bidder after the auction an agreement was reached that delighted the vendor. Peter Raco had a personal interest in the property, because for a long time we had managed the

little old cottage that was on the land before this beautiful new house was built.

Business is Blooming!

Spring auction clearance rates in Sydney are 65%, down from last year but higher than the average for the last four months.
On 9 September our website, raywhitebeecroft.com.au, clocked up its highest number of daily visitors since we started the website in June last year.
From information received recently we can confirm that Douglas Macarthur is the top selling individual real estate salesperson based in Beecroft/Cheltenham for the period 1 Jan to 31 August.

Back from Holiday

Lydia Merrill has been on holiday for the last three weeks in France, including a week driving a 45ft boat up the Canal du Midi.
As a welcome home present, Douglas presented her with the current list of properties available for sale, showing that Ray White Beecroft now has more listings than Raine & Horne.

Successful Property Investment Seminar

In an earlier blog I mentioned that Ray White Beecroft had organised a free Property Investment Seminar for our clients.
That seminar took place last night, and the Investment division of Ray White Corporate gave a very informative presentation to a group of Ray White Beecroft clients, with thoughts on how to use property investment to build personal wealth. The key to their recommendations was that if you can't afford to buy the house of your dreams to live in, you should rent whatever you can afford, and buy a property to rent out. And don't go for a cheap investment property with low rent, you should buy well and get a good rent from the investment, with all the associated tax breaks.
We will hold a repeat of the seminar in three months or so. It's free, but is restricted to people who are on our database. If you want to learn more, contact Douglas Macarthur on 0408 817 239.

France selling Property to reduce debt

Interesting consequence of the GFC is that the French government is selling Australian property to reduce their $2.1 TRILLION national debt. In November they sold a house in Bellevue Hill for $23 MILLION, after buying it 50 years ago for $26 THOUSAND.
Now they have put a property another Bellevue Hill house for an estimated $6M, fifteen years after buying it for $3.75M.

BCCT Silent on M2 Widening

The August 2010 bulletin of the Beecroft and Cheltenham Civic Trust provides an interesting history of the origins of Chilworth Recreation Reserve. The bulletin explains how in 1997, in response to massive public protests largely instigated and coordinated by the Civic Trust, the route of the M2 had been modified "to avoid destroying the park".

Perhaps more importantly, the carriageway over the park was deliberately split into two separate three-lane carriageways, to allow sunlight down into the space under the road. Here you can see how well that worked. My dog Binzi is standing under the city-bound carriageway, where the sun doesn't reach and the soil is of course barren. But in between the two concrete strips the greenery flourishes so this remains a very pleasant walk.

It is therefore rather surprising that the BCCT's August newsletter on the topic doesn't explain that Transurban propose to fill in this gap, and to extend the west-bound carriageway's width, to turn the overpass into a monster ten lane highway - a bicycle lane, three car lanes, and a bus lane, each way!

Compared to the outrage in 1997, described so comprehensively by the Beecroft Cheltenham History Group in this bulletin, one has to assume the present apathy of locals is more due to lack of information than anything else. Why isn't the BCCT out there telling people of what is about to come, instead of just publishing the decade-old history of the park?

Their website says "The BCCT has been very active in informing the 2119 residents about the forthcoming M2 upgrade. We have informed people via our newsletter and also we targetted a letter to all residents living adjacent to the M2" yet this latest bulletin contains only a history lesson. All their latest bulletin says on the future is "The 2010 proposed widening of the M2 means further impacts on the adjacent bushland and nearby households." I would have said, to use the BCCT History Group's own words, the proposed M2 widening project will destroy the Reserve.

PS added Jan 2011: I am now pleased to see that the BCCT has started its own blog and is addressing M2 and other issues there.

Property Investment Information Evening

Ray White Beecroft is pleased to invite you to a free Property Investment Information Evening on Tuesday 7 September, with guest speakers provided by Ray White Corporate.
Talks will be on topics like:
Stamp duty exemption for investors
Industry statisics and market trends
How to profit from changing trends in locations and property types
Maximizing borrowing power
Purchasing property through superannuation
The property clock and Area Hot Spots
How to use tax to assist wealth creation and financial security
Showcase of new projects and investment opportunities.
Contact our office for details and to book a seat. You are welcome to bring friends, but you must register in advance.