Tag: shaping Kiama’s future

When “It’s Only a Rezoning” Doesn’t Match the Evidence

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“The Kiama community is being treated like bystanders to their own future.”

Over the past three weeks, a small group of Kiama residents ( Kiama Depot Action Group) has achieved something remarkable. With almost no warning, a vast amount of technical documentation, and a submission window that barely lasted twenty days, they mobilised themselves and their neighbours. They read the fine print. They supported elderly residents who couldn’t navigate online documents. They shared expertise, compared notes, and helped hundreds of people lodge informed submissions.

This is what community looks like when people care deeply about their town.

And they did it under conditions that would have defeated most communities in New South Wales.

But here’s what many people don’t realise:

Submissions are not the end.

Submissions are the beginning.

Submissions happen quietly, behind closed doors.

Advocacy happens in full public view and this is where community influence is strongest.

Over the past few days, I’ve spoken with people in my networks, and they’ve spoken with theirs. What’s become obvious is the extraordinary depth of expertise sitting within Kiama. Engineers. Council planners. Senior local government team members. Infrastructure specialists. Flood experts. Communications professionals. People who understand how to challenge flawed processes and how to defend a community’s interests in a system that often feels impenetrable.

Kiama is overflowing with expertise.

And that is why the work begins now.

The window has opened.

The assessment process continues well into 2026. This is the phase where councillors feel public pressure, where MPs take notice, where the Minister monitors community sentiment, and where expert advice from residents can fundamentally shape the outcome.

The idea that “the window has closed” is simply incorrect.
The window has opened.

Why “It’s Only a Rezoning” Doesn’t Add Up

Residents concerned about the Shoalhaven Street proposal keep hearing the same calming line: “Don’t worry, it’s only a rezoning.”

As if rezoning is harmless.
As if nothing meaningful begins until a DA lands on someone’s desk.
As if the community has been “premature” in paying attention.

But anyone who has lived through a Kiama planning process knows better.

It’s worth remembering how planning issues in our area have been handled before. A recent example was the attempt to reclassify the Gerringong Surf Lifesaving Club land from Community to Operational land. 

It shows how major planning changes can be introduced without clear community communication, and how strongly residents react when transparency is lacking.

Now, when the outcome is likely to be six-to eight-storey towers opposite the Bowling Club, rezoning is being recast as something procedural, something harmless, something to ignore.

Rezoning becomes “just rezoning” only when it suits the narrative.

What the Government’s Own Documents Reveal

The Explanation of Intended Effect (EIE) shows this proposal is not a neutral rezoning. It contains the elements of a fully formed redevelopment.

1. Detailed reference designs already exist

The EIE includes:
• an Urban Design Report
• a Flood Impact and Risk Assessment
• a Traffic and Transport Assessment
• an Economic Impact Assessment

No one commissions this level of study for a hypothetical.

2. A full 450-unit built form has been modelled

The reference scheme demonstrates exactly how the dwellings fit on the site.
The State describes this as the: “optimum built form”

When a government calls a design optimum, they are not playing theoretical games.

3. The rezoning sets the height – 22m and 30m

The proposal lifts the current 11-metre limit to:

  • 22 metres (six storeys)

  • 30 metres (eight storeys)

These heights appear directly in the draft LEP maps.
This is not speculative.

4. Floor Space Ratio increases from 0.9:1 to 2.1:1

This level of density aligns only with mid-rise buildings, not townhouses.

5. The DA stage will not negotiate scale

Once zoning, height and FSR are set, the DA stage fine-tunes the façade, not the form.

This is why calling this “only a rezoning” doesn’t pass the straight-face test.

What Council’s Own Papers Now Confirm

Council’s agenda for 16 December shows they are treating the rezoning as a given.

Council acknowledges eight storeys

From the CEO’s comments:

“While eight storeys is not currently found elsewhere in the LGA, it is generally consistent with the State’s Low- & Mid-Rise reforms.”

This is a significant admission.
If an ordinary resident built a fence 20cm too high, Council would not consider it “generally consistent”.

Council’s submission reinforces the scale

Council confirms the rezoning will:
• raise height from 11m to 22–30m
• raise FSR to 2.1:1
• enable approximately 450 dwellings

These are the controls that shape the outcome.
Not later.
Now.

A councillor’s Notice of Motion assumes rezoning approval

Cr Draisma has moved a motion about community involvement in the future DA.
The DA – not the rezoning.

The motion assumes R3 is already happening.
This is notable given her public support for the proposal and her employment in the offices of the Minister.

The CEO then states the motion is unnecessary, because the DA will be consulted on anyway.

This exchange only makes sense if both parties believe the rezoning is proceeding.

Residents deserve transparency, not minimisation

The Kiama community is full of informed, thoughtful people.
People who understand the planning system.
People who recognise when explanations don’t match the documentation.

The request being made of residents, to treat this as benign, does not reflect what the State has published or what Council has acknowledged.

And because this proposal sits in a flood-affected valley, overlooking a constrained road network, downstream of homes that have already flooded, these decisions carry real consequences.

Communities have power.
And this is where that power becomes visible.

ADDENDUM: Evidence Summary

Use the attachments below (also listed above) to explore the documents referenced in this post. These extracts show exactly how the proposal is framed and why the “only a rezoning” narrative cannot be sustained.

#Kiama #KiamaCommunity #ShoalhavenStreet #KiamaRezoning #PlanningTransparency #CommunityVoice #PublicInterest #NSWPlanning #LocalGovernmentAccountability #KiamaFuture #HaveYourSay #ProtectOurTown #UrbanPlanningNSW #CommunityMatters #AdvocacyInAction