By SARAH ALLELY
DEVELOPERS behind the Killalea State Park resort are ploughing ahead with their plans despite widespread opposition to the proposal.
The developers are in the midst of preliminary heritage and environmental studies and are due to meet the NSW Planning Department in the next fortnight.
A public relations campaign is also starting this weekend with thousands of residents in suburbs surrounding the park due to receive the first in a series of newsletters from the developers, titled Killalea News Update.
NSW Lands Minister Tony Kelly earlier this year signed an agreement to lease three parcels of park land, for 52 years, to Killalea Coastal Investments, a joint venture between Mariner Financial and Babcock & Brown.
It allows 202 residential lodges, swimming pools, tennis courts, restaurants and a conference centre.
Mariner development manager Trevor Lee yesterday outlined the process the developers would follow through the planning department, including an application to be considered a state significant project.
Mr Lee said there had been no formal acknowledgement that Killalea would be assessed by the State Government, but the extent of the project made it appropriate.
Shellharbour Mayor David Hamilton has previously said he does not want the development to bypass the council.
Mariner Financial development director Anthony Moeller said a meeting with the department was planned within the next fortnight to "kick-start the schedule".
Mr Moeller said a scoping plan would be submitted to the department's director-general in the next few months and the Government would then direct the company to do further studies, which would take about four months.
A master plan would be submitted, to go on public exhibition for one month.
Mr Moeller expects this first stage to take six months, and once approved, stage two will begin when detailed design work is submitted.
There has been some confusion about the exact location of the development.
Yesterday, Mariner explained the existing car park would be filled with 81 lodges and maybe a tennis court and swimming pool, stretching from the kiosk through the two car parks.
The road would be shifted 10m west, and the resort would run from the stone wall looking down on The Farm beach to the new road.
The grassy picnic area in front of the car park would remain unchanged for public use.
The second development area, The Crest, is the land to the east of the park gate. The third is on the western gully near the camp ground.
Illawarra Mercury - 23 August 2007
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