Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre adds value.
In August the Waverton Precinct Committee urged the North Sydney Council to adopt a set of principles for ‘Stage 2’ of the Hume Street Park project in Crows Nest, including the retention of Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre.
‘Stage 2’ adds about 2000 square metres to the park’s existing 6000 square metres using funds collected by the NSW Government during the development of the metro.
To expand Hume Street Park, the North Sydney Council voted on 29 June to demolish Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre.
The Council gave one stated reason:
“To maximise larger contiguous areas of open space to support a wide range of recreational activities, gatherings and events.”
Yet the Kelly’s Place building occupies a mere 300 of the park’s 8000 square metres — and it’s green, with grass on its low, flat roof.
The Precinct adopted the following resolution.
Agreeing that a primary planning objective for Crows Nest is to continue adding to public open space as opportunities arise, Waverton Precinct supports the following principles for Hume Street Park and urges the Council to adopt them.
1 Extending the current lease of Kelly’s Place Children’s Centre until the design for Hume Park is fully developed, tested, released and agreed to.
2 Designing Hume Park to incorporate a childcare centre.
3 Retaining the existing community childcare centre model as a proven alternative to the larger, private-sector childcare centres in the municipality.
4 Integrating the childcare centre’s structures and active open space into the overall design for multiple varied public uses of Hume Park.
5 Actively integrating the childcare centre into Hume Park, through creative and imaginative design, to maximise the civic and environmental quality of the park.
The minutes of the Waverton Precinct Committee’s meeting of 4 August are here.