Kiama Council will look at implementing a shuttle service for construction workers amid fears about parking in the town centre with a series of high-rise developments in the pipeline.

Parking was a hot topic on the agenda at Tuesday night’s Council meeting with Councillor Yasmin Tatrai putting forward a notice of motion to institute parking permits for local residents.

Cr Tatrai wanted Council to potentially issue two parking permits per household, bring in beach and on-street parking regulations with greater allowances for residents, and permits for local business owners.

Her move was voted down after much debate after Council CEO Jane Stroud had recommended that such a system would not meet Transport for NSW’s Permit Parking Guidelines eligibility criteria and it would also create a significant administrative burden to implement, manage and monitor.

In her response, she stated the work was not Council’s Delivery and Operational Plan or budget and confirmed that previous reports had explored this issue on many occasions.

Staff and Councillors had also reached out to other LGAs such as Manly, Byron Bay and Wollongong to gather insights on how different parking systems, such as paid meters, had been implemented elsewhere.

With high-rise construction set to kick off as early next year on three multi-storey developments on Akuna Street and the Council-owned Shoalhaven Street Precinct, the perennial parking problem in Kiama is about to get worse.

Around 70 parking spaces at the Level 33 development site on Akuna Street will be fenced off midway through next month due to safety concerns.

And when the developments are underway, particularly if they occur simultaneously, the construction workers will add to an already heavy parking burden.

Council is looking at setting up a site outside the town centre with construction workers catching a shuttle service into the works zone.

“If all three sites happen to be building at the exact same time, that would ruin the road network,” Stroud told The Bugle.

“We're actually doing a giant body of work on that at the minute so that we can manage any kind of full-on construction period.

“You can designate where you want construction workers to park and you can make that condition as part of the consents.

“What I don't want to see is public parking chewed up.

“I'm very aware that we need to manage any construction period as carefully as we can.”

Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald said Cr Tatrai’s notice of motion “was coming from the right place but there is a lot of work for us” before Council can have a definitive plan to fix the parking problem.

“Previous Councils have considered or debated a number of parking management options, such as paid visitor parking to free up spaces in the central business districts, and parking fee exemptions for local residents, however these haven’t garnered enough support to move beyond suggestions.

“Parking is something that Council is critically aware of, especially with the summer tourist season upon us and the possibility of future development occurring within the town centre.

“Development of an overall strategy which factors in the many considerations is my preferred option.”

Councillor Stuart Larkins has called for a review of the time limits on parking areas in the LGA - Kiama’s most recent Parking and Traffic Study was published in 2021 - and Stroud hoped to be able to add an update to the parking and traffic management plan into next year’s budget.

The Shoalhaven Street Precinct is a step closer to reality after Council endorsed its submission for the rezoning proposal to Planning Minister Paul Scully on Tuesday night.

The Department will prepare an issues paper which will go to the Minister for a decision.