South Kiama's proposed planning changes: three parks, a local centre for shops, smaller minimum lots around Kendall's Park. The state wants more justification first

What would change on the ground

The release area was rezoned for housing in 2022 by the then Minister for Planning, through a rezoning review. Since then the council has adopted a site plan for it, signed a planning agreement with the developer and approved the first stage of the subdivision. Its planning proposal (PP-2026-1778, July 2026) says the zoning has not caught up: in 2022 there was no mechanism for Council to accept the dedication of land (ie for public open space, environmental land, stormwater management) and the zoning of the site reflects this. It lists nine changes to the Kiama Local Environmental Plan 2011. The ones a neighbour or future buyer would notice are below.

The proposed changes, control by control

Kiama council's planning proposal PP-2026-1778, July 2026, sections 2.1 to 2.9, read 8 October 2026.

Where	Now	Proposed
Three local parks: Stage 1 Park (1,950 sqm), Kendall's Park (2,650 sqm), Munna Munnora Park (3,150 sqm)	Low density residential (R2), or environmental management (C3) for Munna Munnora Park	Public recreation (RE1)
Creek (riparian) corridors	Mostly rural landscape (RU2), with strips of residential	Environmental management (C3)
Six proposed lots on the main collector road in Stage 2, numbered 2055 to 2060	R2, 300 sqm minimum lot, floor space ratio 0.6:1, 8.5 m height	Local centre (E1), no minimum lot size, floor space ratio 1.5:1, height unchanged
Proposed lots around Kendall's Park, numbered 2083 and 2084, 2093 to 2096, and 3047 and 3048	450 sqm minimum lot, floor space ratio 0.45:1	300 sqm minimum lot, floor space ratio 0.6:1
All other low density residential land on 0.45:1	Floor space ratio 0.45:1	Floor space ratio 0.5:1
Land for the Weir Street extension	No acquisition layer	Reserved for acquisition as a local road, the council as acquiring authority
Strip of unformed road beside Kendall's Cemetery	On the heritage map with the cemetery (item I144)	Off the heritage map; the cemetery lot stays listed
Two road-reserve lots by the highway underpass, one a council-owned pathway to the cemetery	Infrastructure zone (SP2)	Low density residential (R2), 300 sqm minimum lot

The local centre is new: the proposal says the 2022 rezoning did not include land for employment uses. The council's draft Employment Lands Strategy, it says, identifies a need for around 2,000sqm of land area to enable approximately 500sqm of GFA (gross floor area) of local shops and services, and the draft site plan amendment to be exhibited with it sets an objective of a minimum of 500sqm of gross floor area for commercial or retail use. It would sit in Stage 2 on the collector road, south of a creek corridor and east of the cemetery and its park.

The heritage change is narrower than it sounds. The proposal says the mapped strip was part of an old unformed road that gave access to the cemetery before the M1 Princes Highway cut it off, that it does not contribute to the significance of the heritage item, and that the cemetery lot itself stays listed. Two road-reserve lots near the underpass would be zoned residential so they can be folded into house lots, the proposal says, subject to a separate road closure process and separate sale of land process.

What the state wants first

Kiama council voted on 18 August, eight to none, to send the proposal to the planning department for a gateway determination and to ask to make the plan itself (minutes, item 15.2). The gateway determination, dated 29 September 2026 and signed by a director of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure as the Minister's delegate, granted that: the amendment should proceed subject to the following, with the council as the local plan-making authority. The first condition is the one that sends the council back to its desk.

Prior to exhibition, the planning proposal is to be updated to provide further justification for the inconsistencies with the Ministerial Direction Planning Priorities P1.2 Cultural Guidance, P3.2 Rural, P5.6 Threatened species, threatened ecological communities and their habitats and P5.9 Planning for Bush Fire Protection

The council's proposal had reached the opposite view on each of the four. It states that it is consistent with all applicable Section 9.1 Ministerial Directions, and its direction-by-direction table records these assessments.

Four directions: what the council's proposal said, and what the gateway asked for

Direction	The council's proposal, July 2026	The gateway, 29 September 2026
P1.2 Cultural Guidance	This direction does not apply to the PP.	Further justification for the inconsistencies, before exhibition
P3.2 Rural	The PP is considered consistent with Direction P3.2.
P5.6 Threatened species, threatened ecological communities and their habitats	The PP is considered consistent with Direction P5.6.
P5.9 Planning for Bush Fire Protection	The PP is considered consistent with Direction P5.9.

The other conditions add steps before and during the exhibition. The council must first consult the state's bushfire advisers (the Development Coordination Authority's hazards and resources advisory) and take their comments into account. The heritage and biodiversity advisers must each get at least 30 working days to comment, and the proposal must be on public exhibition for at least 20 working days. No public hearing is required.

The deal behind the housekeeping

Most of the changes put into the plan what the council and the developer have already agreed. The planning agreement between the council and White Constructions and Developments Pty Ltd was entered into on 5 December 2025 and covers the whole release, which the council's page puts at approximately 380 lots (the council's 18 August report says about 400 lots or dwellings). The developer dedicates and embellishes the three parks, revegetates and hands over the creek corridors, builds four stormwater basins and upgrades Saddleback Mountain Road and Weir Street. The agreement's explanatory note, prepared jointly by the council and the developer for its 2025 exhibition, says its notional value was costed by the developer at over $30 million, which equates to over $80k per lot.

The subdivision is already moving. The proposal records Stage 1, 81 residential lots, approved by the council in December 2025, and a development application for Stages 2 and 3, 204 residential lots, lodged in June 2026 and under assessment when the proposal was written. The Weir Street extension is a Stage 4 job in the agreement, but the land it needs spans two properties, and the proposal says one owner is not a party to the Planning Agreement and has no obligation to dedicate land or construct the road. That is why it asks for the acquisition layer.

The shops answer a traffic problem the proposal itself records, in the council's words about Transport for NSW's comments on its housing strategy.

Feedback from Transport for NSW on the Kiama Local Housing Strategy has noted that the M1 Princes Highway does not have the capacity to accommodate the additional trips

When residents get a say

The release area's path, and the dates still ahead

1. 2022Site rezoned for urban development by the then Minister for Planning, through a rezoning review.
2. February 2025Council adopts the site's development control plan chapter, with a concept master plan.
3. 5 December 2025Planning agreement entered into; Stage 1 (81 lots) approved the same month.
4. June 2026Development application lodged for Stages 2 and 3 (204 lots).
5. 18 August 2026Council endorses the housekeeping proposal for gateway, eight votes to none.
6. 29 September 2026Gateway determination: proceed, on conditions, with further justification needed before exhibition.
7. October to November 2026Target in the council's timeline: agency consultation and public exhibition.
8. February 2027Target in the council's timeline: report to council for final endorsement.
9. April 2027Target in the council's timeline: plan amendment published.
10. 2 July 2027Deadline in the gateway determination for completing the plan.

As at 8 October 2026 the proposal is not on the Planning Portal's list of proposals on exhibition for Kiama, and Kiama's Your Say projects page has no exhibition page for it. The portal lists it as pre-exhibition, at the gateway implementation stage. The council's report says the proposal will be advertised on its Your Say page, and the proposal suggests notification letters to adjoining landowners. When the exhibition opens, we will report its dates and what the updated proposal says on the four directions.

Our read

This is opinion, built on the documents above. Housekeeping is a category in the council's planning proposal policy, which plans two such proposals a year. Most of this one is what the label says. Zoning the three parks and the creek corridors for what they will become, and reserving the land for Weir Street, locks in public land the planning agreement already promised, and that is good for whoever ends up living there. But two of the nine changes are more than tidying. Smaller minimum lots around Kendall's Park and a higher floor space ratio across the low density land change what can be built, and the proposal's own heading for the first says Increase the density. Section 3.9 of the same document says The PP does not propose to increase development potential. The council's case for the ratio change, a simpler figure in line with the state's low and mid-rise housing policy, is reasonable, but residents should be told plainly that it is a change. The department's request for more on bushfire and threatened species is the right check on a document that assessed both as consistent in a short paragraph each. Read the updated version when it is exhibited, and look first at what it says on those two.

Sources

1. NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, South Kiama Urban Release Area, Housekeeping, PP-2026-1778, NSW Planning Portal, and its under-exhibition list filtered to Kiama, read 8 October 2026: stage, addresses, date of determination, the attached documents below, and no Kiama proposal on exhibition.
2. Kiama Municipal Council, Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting, 18 August 2026, extract, item 15.2, read 8 October 2026: resolution 26/197OC and the vote.
3. Kiama Municipal Council, Report of the Director Strategies and Communities, item 15.2, 18 August 2026, read 8 October 2026: the site's area and about 400 lots or dwellings, the 2022 rezoning, and the two housekeeping proposals a year.
4. Kiama Municipal Council, Planning Proposal, Housekeeping, South Kiama Urban Release Area, July 2026, read 8 October 2026: the nine changes and their controls, the parks, the local centre, the heritage strip, the road-reserve lots, the Weir Street landowner, the Transport for NSW feedback, the stage lot counts, the ministerial direction table, section 3.9 and the project timeline.
5. Kiama Municipal Council, Kiama DCP 2020, Chapter 12.11 South Kiama Urban Release Area, draft amendments, read 8 October 2026: the neighbourhood shops, their location and the 500 sqm minimum.
6. NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Gateway determination, PP-2026-1778, 29 September 2026, read 8 October 2026: the conditions, consultation periods and the 2 July 2027 completion date.
7. Kiama Municipal Council, Planning Agreement: South Kiama Urban Release Area, Your Say Kiama, read 8 October 2026: the date entered into, about 380 lots, and the contributions.
8. Kiama Municipal Council and White Constructions and Developments Pty Ltd, Explanatory Note, Planning Agreement: South Kiama Urban Release Area, 2025, read 8 October 2026: the parties, about 380 lots over four stages, and the notional value as costed by the developer.
9. Kiama Municipal Council, Your Say Kiama, projects, read 8 October 2026: no exhibition page for the proposal.

Spotted an error, or read these documents differently? Tell us and we will check it against the documents and log the outcome here.