THE latest concept plans for the redevelopment of the Kiama Hospital site have been unveiled, with the development application expected to be lodged by August.
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Kiama council showcased the plans at a public meeting at The Pavilion on Thursday.
A $68.5 million masterplan was endorsed by Kiama councillors in May.
The Blue Haven project entails council buying the hospital site from the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, in order to use the 3.3-hectare hospital site as a Blue Haven aged-care development, the Aged Care Centre of Excellence.
The site will eventually contain a new 134-bed Blue Haven nursing home, 55 independent living units and 16 assisted living units.
The Health District will also provide improved community and out-patient health services from the facility.
The new facility is expected to be completed and accepting residents by 2018.
The DA will be determined by the Joint Regional Planning Panel.
New additions included office space for Blue Haven Care staff, a multi-function hall, more prominent use of Barroul House and conversion of land adjoining Bonaira Reserve into car parking.
Kiama Mayor Brian Petschler said new estimates had the project costing about $74 million, but until the final design was settled they couldn’t have an exact figure.
However, he estimated between $67-70 million.
‘‘The figures have blown out to that ($74 million)... But we’ve got some issues which we think we can address which will bring that back,’’ he said.
At the public meeting, residents raised questions regarding topics such as heritage-listed Barroul House and traffic flow in Bonaira Street.
Representatives from Boffa Robertson Group, the architects who prepared the concept plans also attended.
One of the partners, Jock Robertson said he was ‘‘astounded’’ at the positive community support for the development, and said they had been particularly mindful of potential impacts.
He expected the DA would be lodged by mid-August at latest.
Earlier this year, council opted to defer selling the rear of the site for residential housing.
It had faced criticism from residents and some councillors over plans to sell eight residential lots at the southern end of the hospital site to help cash flow in the project’s early stages.
