Coles for Kiama?

KATINA CURTIS

RAILCORP has made a submission to Kiama Council's local environment plan review to have land it owns on the corner of Manning and Bong Bong streets rezoned to allow for a large-scale retail site.

The land is now divided into two lots, with Lot 1 zoned for tourist-related business and Lot 2 for special uses for railway.

The rezoning would allow a large supermarket chain such as Coles to build there.

And a reliable source has told the Kiama Independent that Coles had considered the site with the view of building a supermarket and a Target store on the land.

The rezoning application goes against a statement made by RailCorp in May, when a spokesman said the corporation had no plans to rezone the site.

The submission to council stated that RailCorp has discussed with council staff the possibility of using the land for mixed use including car parking, retail and medium density housing to a height of four storeys.

The corporation is in the process of subdividing the site and a spokeswoman said once this was complete, it would publicly tender the site for lease or sale. Zoning was the limiting factor in what might be done with the site.

Mayor Sandra McCarthy said that although the council had not received any development application for the site, she thought there should be some kind of commercial and residential development there.

The idea of another supermarket in Kiama was a good one.

"The community has been telling the council loud and clear that we need another supermarket in town," she said.

"I think we need the competition, not just a monopoly.

"In a town the size of Kiama, for the residents to have a choice would be very good."

A Coles spokesman said yesterday the company did not comment on rumour or speculation.