With only slight changes to its revised draft, the Jamberoo DCP was adopted by Kiama Council at its December meeting.

This means future residential or commercial development in Jamberoo will be guided by design controls to help retain the village’s existing look and feel.

Amongst other things, these characteristics for houses include pitched and hip roofs, wider setbacks between neighbours (3m on one side and 1.5m on the other), verandahed entries, less prominent garages, gardens and the use of traditional building materials.

For residential subdivisions, there is an emphasis on landscape buffers between rural and residential land, street trees and parks.

There has also been a separate  increase in the minimum lot size for dual occupancy.

Controls for commercial developments are also now in place to protect the established character of the village.

“I gave my commitment the DCP would be brought down by the end of the year and it has been,” says Mayor Mark Honey.

“A lot of time and expertise has been focussed on achieving this, with the help of community consultation.”

The impetus for the Jamberoo DCP arose from concerns about a proposed residential development on Golden Valley Rd, which was rejected by Council but subsequently received approval from the Department of Planning to proceed through its Gateway Process (necessary to obtain the rezoning changes necessary in the Kiama Local Environment Plan), and recent residential sub-divisions at Jamberoo many see as out of character with the village.

However, just when the Jamberoo DCP was adopted in a spirit of cooperation and goodwill between Council and the community, comes the realisation that the desire to protect the Valley’s prime agricultural land from fragmentation may be at threat from a proposed State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) focusing on Primary Production and Rural Development.

Council has raised an objection to an aspect of the SEPP that will enable landholders to subdivide and create small rural allotments containing dwellings.

The JVRRA has called a public meeting to discuss this and its continued opposition to the Golden Valley Rd development.

Details: Tuesday 23 Feb, Jamberoo School of Arts, 7.30pm