Adelaide Hills | Developments & News

[Simpson]

So whatever happened to KFC and Hungry Jacks coming to Mt Barker? Anyone else heard about the school and shopping center they want to put in on Springs Rd? And does anyone know why all that land out Hawthorn Rd way is still vacant? I'm surprised the greedy developers haven't carved it up yet, much more convenient location than Blustone...

[Straze]

With the population increasing in Mount Barker i think it is time that the locals and visitors (including myself) deserve a good quality department store like Myer, Harris Scarfe or Target. Some more choice of food, the only place that had good quality food within my budget was Giovanni, other than that the only places are fast food joints like Subway and Maccas. I like the town but for food i find myself going up the road to Hahndorf to the Hahndorf Old Mill, maybe not the best price for all you can eat but good quality and has wide range of foods.

[Wayno]

Further Expanding Mt Barker

http://thecouriernews.blogspot.com/2010 ... angry.html

Planning Minister cops blast from Angry Ann
A State Government plan to expand Mt Barker will be released within
weeks, but the town's council has no idea what it will recommend.
The Mt Barker Council is angry that it is still being kept in the
dark over details of the Government's Ministerial Development Plan
Amendment (DPA) for the town.
The growth investigation, which is being driven by a consortium of
developers, will decide where thousands of new homes will be built
outside the town's existing boundary.
Mayor Ann Ferguson, pictured, wrote to Urban Development and Planning
Minister Paul Holloway last week calling for an urgent meeting to
address a raft of issues the council had with the investigation.

[rhino]

Planned Mt Barker growth 'premature'
SHERADYN HOLDERHEAD From: The Advertiser June 16, 2010 11:30PM 10 comments

LEVELS of growth in the Mt Barker area are already high so promoting new development is premature, the council says.
A state government proposal released last week would rezone 1265ha of land around Mt Barker and about 45ha southwest of Nairne.
The Mt Barker Development Plan Amendment, which will take public submissions until early August, would allow an extra 7000 houses to be built.
However, Mt Barker Council chief executive Andrew Stuart said the area was already in the midst of development.
"The council's reaction is we understand why Mt Barker's a popular spot for development but we already have a lot of development," he said. Mr Stuart said the proposed development "will be family-oriented so will double the size of Mt Barker and basically change the character of the whole place".
Mt Barker has had 16 per cent growth since the past census in 2006, which was by far the highest in the state.
Mr Stuart said some infrastructure in the area, including the sewer system and sport and recreation facilities, was already at its limit.
Mayor Ann Ferguson said the council would take extra steps to ensure that individual residents and community groups were heard over the eight-week consultation period.
"We will bring in an experienced, independent planning adviser to conduct forums that will assist anyone and any group that wants to make their own submission," she said.
Public submissions can be lodged on the Development Plan Amendment until August 4, 2010.
A public meeting also will be held.

[flavze]

With the population increasing in Mount Barker i think it is time that the locals and visitors (including myself) deserve a good quality department store like Myer, Harris Scarfe or Target. Some more choice of food, the only place that had good quality food within my budget was Giovanni, other than that the only places are fast food joints like Subway and Maccas. I like the town but for food i find myself going up the road to Hahndorf to the Hahndorf Old Mill, maybe not the best price for all you can eat but good quality and has wide range of foods.

Ya have Auchendarroch House doing reasonable food and Alto's does some decent food, but yeah the Main street in Mt Barker is massively under utilised. There's quite a bit of parking around it for after work hours and with a few decent cafe's and restruants could be quite a nice eating out area.
Considering how many restraunts there is in Hahndorf for a much smaller town, Admitedly it has a large tourist focus the shear population of Mt Barker should easily make a few decent restraunts profitable.

[baytram366]

I can't believe the Government is letting Mount Barker and other hills towns just get bigger and bigger. I couldn't believe the development on the hills to the right of the freeway heading away from Mount Barker that I saw two weeks ago. Why do they persist on making Mount Barker so big when there is no train and only a bus service there? Glen Osmond Rd is a mess and this only makes the traffic going up and down the hill worse.
This time last year those hills outside of Mount Barker were no where near as blocked with homes as they are now.
Enough is enough... build UP not across and around!

[Aidan]

I can't believe the Government is letting Mount Barker and other hills towns just get bigger and bigger.

On what grounds do you think they should disallow it?

I couldn't believe the development on the hills to the right of the freeway heading away from Mount Barker that I saw two weeks ago. Why do they persist on making Mount Barker so big when there is no train and only a bus service there? Glen Osmond Rd is a mess and this only makes the traffic going up and down the hill worse.

Most of Adelaide's suburbs have no train and only a bus service. Glen Osmond Road being a mess doesn't make the traffic going up the hill worse. It sometimes makes traffic going down the hill worse, but that's not a problem to the majority of Mount Barker residents - many more work locally than commute to Adelaide.

This time last year those hills outside of Mount Barker were no where near as blocked with homes as they are now.

I seem to recall they were blocked with building sites back then!

Enough is enough... build UP not across and around!

The two are not mutually exclusive. I'm in favour of building up, but many people would prefer to live somewhere more spacious, and I don't think we should deny anyone that opportunity.

[Straze]

Did anyone see the news story tonight on National Nine News at 6pm, they stated in the story that Mount Barker could reach a population of 40,000 residents if development continues. This is madness. Surely this can't be good for the heritage value of this rural township. With more and more people flocking to the Adelaide Hills, Glen Osmond Road is going to put to the test not that it isn't already. Hills Freeway here we come (just kidding), this is going to put pressure on public transport system. Who wants to leave this dustbowl called Adelaide and move the city 30kms up the road?

[crawf]

Cause it's only a 25-30 minute trip to the Adelaide CBD, compared to places like Salisbury, Elizabeth, Morphett Vale etc that are closer to the city but still take over 45 minutes.

I lived in Mt Barker for 4 years up until 2008, and I can honestly say the two best things about living there was how quick it was to travel to the city along the South Eastern Freeway and living in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Other than that Mt Barker itself is average to say the least.

Though I did noticed a few changes around Mt Barker last weekend...
- Construction has started on Mt Barker Central Shopping Centre Expansion (towards Hutchinson Street), possibly just a few more shops and carparks
- Stobile poles have been replaced with street lights on Adelaide Road, between Gawler Street and Druids Avenue
- New 2-level office complex has been proposed on Hutchinson Street, next to the Court House
- New expanded Woolworths looks really good (old workplace )
- Mt Barker now has a Trims store!, on the corner of Gawler and Hutchinson Streets
- Major progress on the 950-housing estate on the southern edge of Mt Barker and housing development near the golf course on Hartman Road.

One thing I noticed that has hardly changed is the vacant block boarded between Druids Avenue, Hutchinson, Morphett and Stephen Streets which has been vacant for over 6 years!. There was 2-3 years ago plan for a Big W, ground floor shops and roof-top carpark but no idea if this still actually going to happen.

Nearmaps

[Prince George]

Cause it's only a 25-30 minute trip to the Adelaide CBD, compared to places like Salisbury, Elizabeth, Morphett Vale etc that are closer to the city but still take over 45 minutes.

I lived in Mt Barker for 4 years up until 2008, and I can honestly say the two best things about living there was how quick it was to travel to the city along the South Eastern Freeway and living in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Other than that Mt Barker itself is average to say the least.

That sort of thing is almost the definition of a "dormitory suburb", something that I hope they are going to work hard at solving if they really are planning on the population rising to 40,000. Beyond the commute time to town (which will get worse if we keep increasing the number of people who make that trip), what are the fuel costs for that trip? Driving freeway speeds and over the mountains, I imagine it must be quite expensive.

[Wayno]

Though I did noticed a few changes around Mt Barker last weekend...
- Construction has started on Mt Barker Central Shopping Centre Expansion (towards Hutchinson Street), possibly just a few more shops and carparks
- Stobile poles have been replaced with street lights on Adelaide Road, between Gawler Street and Druids Avenue
- New 2-level office complex has been proposed on Hutchinson Street, next to the Court House
- New expanded Woolworths looks really good (old workplace )
- Mt Barker now has a Trims store!, on the corner of Gawler and Hutchinson Streets
- Major progress on the 950-housing estate on the southern edge of Mt Barker and housing development near the golf course on Hartman Road.

Thanks for the detailed update crawf - much appreciated. Any pikkies?

[baytram366]

And yet the government still thinks it is a waste of time and $$ to re-instate the railway line to Mount Barker - what a joke!

[Aidan]

And yet the government still thinks it is a waste of time and $$ to re-instate the railway line to Mount Barker - what a joke!

How would you suggest the railway attract passengers when trains would take twice as long as the bus?

[Omicron]

Cause it's only a 25-30 minute trip to the Adelaide CBD, compared to places like Salisbury, Elizabeth, Morphett Vale etc that are closer to the city but still take over 45 minutes.

I lived in Mt Barker for 4 years up until 2008, and I can honestly say the two best things about living there was how quick it was to travel to the city along the South Eastern Freeway and living in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Other than that Mt Barker itself is average to say the least.

That sort of thing is almost the definition of a "dormitory suburb", something that I hope they are going to work hard at solving if they really are planning on the population rising to 40,000. Beyond the commute time to town (which will get worse if we keep increasing the number of people who make that trip), what are the fuel costs for that trip? Driving freeway speeds and over the mountains, I imagine it must be quite expensive.

Depends on your car, I should think. The hybrids would hate it, but the diesels and conventional cars would probably prefer freeway travel to stop-start arterial traffic.

[flavze]

- Mt Barker now has a Trims store!, on the corner of Gawler and Hutchinson Streets

used to be known as "the outback outpost" was essentially the same thing just a differant name, changed to Trims this year sometime.

One thing I noticed that has hardly changed is the vacant block boarded between Druids Avenue, Hutchinson, Morphett and Stephen Streets which has been vacant for over 6 years!. There was 2-3 years ago plan for a Big W, ground floor shops and roof-top carpark but no idea if this still actually going to happen.

the developers want to redevelop the whole block including the small building in the corner of morphett and hutchinson streets but the owners of those vuildings dont want to sell. Not sure why as it is just a small shitty lil building and the buisnesses occupying them could easily operate elsewhere.