In our last edition of The Bugle’s View, we commended Kiama Council for demonstrating resolve in endorsing Version 2 of the draft Housing Strategy for public exhibition and comment. While it was not an easy decision, we noted that their slow and steady approach was essential in bringing the community along on this journey.

After all, previous Councils had actively and effectively avoided conversations around growth - an inaction that has undoubtedly contributed to Kiama’s current situation: the most expensive housing market in regional NSW and some of the worst affordability measures in the state. This is no longer tenable, as young people and families continue to be priced out of the area.

Our community has been conditioned to accept and expect that nothing will ever change, over a long period of time and this is why a slow and steady approach is what is needed.

It has therefore come as a shock that over the last week, the “Low and Mid Rise Housing Policy” has been enacted across Kiama Town Centre. The details are relatively scant, but The Bugle understands that this will allow 22m high buildings across parts of our town – equivalent to 6 storeys. To put this into perspective, under the Kiama Local Environmental Plan, the controversial Akuna Street car park development is allowed to be 21m at its highest point. 

According to the Southern Regional Planning Panel website, the Panel met on 13 November 2024 to discuss the Akuna Street development application. The minutes of the meeting state that the application still has unresolved issues related to:

-     Height, bulk and scale of the built form; 

-     Pedestrian access, amenity and safety; 

-     Functionality of communal open space; 

-     Streetscape, including the lack of resolution to the Akuna Street frontage; and 

-     Impacts on the local heritage item.

As a result, the developer of the Akuna Street car park has applied to the Land and Environment Court under a “deemed refusal Class 1 Appeal” for their development application. Effectively, Council staff were not in a position to recommend approval and the Planning Panel said the developer should “consider withdrawing the application to enable a significant redesign to fully respond to the concerns raised”.

It is hard to see how new applications under the “Low and Mid Rise” policy could be supported, when they could be even higher than Akuna Street. 

This policy has the potential to completely change the face and character of Kiama Town Centre with the potential for multiple Akuna Street style developments dotted throughout our main streets. 

Whilst we are all for initiatives that will address housing affordability, The Bugle’s View is that allowing for building heights never seen before in town is quite possibly a step too far.