A confidential meeting of Kiama Council has decided to put Council’s Akuna St/Mitre 10 landholding out to public tender.

“After 13 years, open tender is the way to get a resolution to the development of that site,” says Mayor Mark Honey.

Council’s CEO Jane Stroud says she wants it to go out to tender within a month.

“I will make it a priority. Ideally I would like it to go to tender and have it all of it done and ready for approval by the new council.”

Unlike when it was last put up for sale, this tender will not specify the building of a supermarket on the site.

Instead, the Town Centre DCP, Town Centre Study and the Site Specific Masterplan will inform whatever goes on the sites. All are close to being finalised.

Ms Stroud says price will not be the only criteria for deciding on the tender.

Charlie Daoud's Terralong St vision for the site

Developer Charlie Daoud, of Traders in Purple, had been hoping to interest Council in the benefits of his expanded vision for the site (incorporating other nearby property they have acquired) without going to public tender.

The Daouds were previously unsuccessful in having a DA approved for the site within the necessary timeframe, causing the sale to them to fall through. It is understood they have already invested $2.5 million on the site since 2016.

“Given five years of significant investment, and particular in the last two years conducting a whole new urban design study focusing on people and business, it is obviously disappointing for us,” says Mr Daoud.

“We would have loved to have been given the opportunity to start the process of community consultation straight away and have this project delivered a lot sooner than it is otherwise going to be.

“With it going out to tender again, there is every risk the opportunity is lost to create something very special in the town centre.”

He believes that there should be milestones mandated in the tender, to make sure a DA is submitted and acted upon in a timely manner.

“If they are just looking for the highest price, you could get someone who is going to land bank it and it might just sit there for another 10-20 years,” he says.

“Given the history of the site, that would be a really undesirable outcome for the community.”

The 4961 sqm site was consolidated by Council through the purchase of the Weston’s site on Shoalhaven Street in 2012 and the Mitre 10 site, between Terralong and Akuna Streets, in 2015, at a total cost of over $7 million.