Residents around the old Milk Depot in Belvedere St, Kiama, are up in arms about a proposed modification to the storage unit complex currently being built there.

The modification is seeking to overturn conditions of consent that limit the future use of the 22 units to self-storage. They specifically 'exclude the use of each of the strata lots for industrial use, light industrial use, manufacturing use, workshop use, depot use, places of public worship, warehouse or distribution centre use, vehicle sales or hire centres'.

Removal of these conditions would enable the units to used in accordance with the light industrial zoning, which is in short supply in the LGA.

Neighbour Camilla Kerr-Ruston says people are very concerned about the potential noise, traffic, fumes and operating hours that would come with this.

“The owner tried to get industrial units approved for the site in 2021 but it didn’t get up because it is not suitable for this area,” she says.

“Then, as now, people are worried about noise, traffic and comings and goings at all hours.

“That DA was withdrawn in 2021 and he reverted back to a DA that had been approved for self-storage, which allowed him to cut down all the trees on the site and start building.

“Now he is trying to get around that.

“It will be just like the Quarry Industrial Estate, but in an old residential area.”

Progress so far

With 80 per cent of the units having been sold already (according to the sign), Ms Kerr-Ruston can’t see why the developer is doing it given the demand for self-storage.

“This isn’t a modification, it is saying that he can sell those units to anyone to do anything, which is totally against what Council approved,” she says.

“With the storage units, the general consensus is we could live with it, but this is entirely different with the potential for people there all day running their businesses out of the units.”

She is encouraging residents to lodge objections to the modification application by the deadline of 16 August.

“There is just so much we can put up with,” she says.

The developer’s barrister is of the opinion that the restriction is unlawful.