More than a hundred people attended a Kiama Residents Against Sell off of Hospital land (KRASH) community meeting on the issue at Kiama Leagues Club on Tuesday night.  

Cr Petschler also emphasised that Kiama council played no role in the decision to relocate beds from Kiama Hospital.

Council is in the process of buying the 3.3-hectare hospital site from the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District for a $58 million Blue Haven aged-care development, with the health service to build a new facility on the land to continue delivering outpatient services.

The 20 sub-acute beds from Kiama Hospital site will be relocated to Port Kembla and eventually to a redeveloped Shellharbour Hospital.

Cr Petschler said the council was being unfairly criticised by those who said it was the council’s decision to relocate beds.

He said they had responded to the area health board and the government’s decision to move the beds.

Council is also facing criticism over its plans to sell eight residential lots at the southern end of the hospital site to fund the project.

The council said the sale of the eight residential lots would assist with cash flow during the early stages of the project.

At the meeting, residents expressed concerns with the proposal, and circulated a petition, which objected to selling off a portion of the hospital site, and called on council to retain the entire site as a community health/aged care/seniors living precinct. 

KRASH spokesman Craig Summerhayes lives in Reid Street, adjacent to the hospital grounds. 

“It should not be squandered for very minor financial gain,” he said.

“We fully support the aged care facility and seniors’ living complex, it’s much-needed and would be great for Kiama.

“We feel the land can be utilised and integrated to enhance the residents’ lives in an aged care, seniors’ living complex.” 

Councillors Neil Reilly and Andrew Sloan attended the meeting. 

“This particular councillor is not in favour of the residential sell-off of part of that land,” Cr Reilly said.

Cr Sloan said the residents’ passion and arguments had raised some questions regarding the project’s viability.

Cr Petschler dismissed claims that the proposal was for a small, one-off financial gain. 

The council has previously estimated the sale of the eight residential lots will generate a net return of $1.2 million.

Cr Petschler said the site can’t be developed for aged care use because of fire regulations.

“The whole site, other than that area at the rear, will be in a parkland setting which will be free for people to use, with pathways and Barroul House at the centre of it as a community facility.

“We don’t have the luxury of throwing away somewhere between a million and two million dollars in finance to help us get through that significant cost structure that will be the building of the aged care facility.

“Why should they (ratepayers) have to put in a million, or up to $2 million towards this facility, when it’s going to be, what would be a private park to the people adjoining it? 

“I think that’s ridiculous.

“We’ve got to spend a million dollars on (restoring) Barroul House; we’ve got to spend money on this contamination we’ve discovered.

“We want to be able to provide the best service we can; top-range, cutting-edge stuff.

“I want to make it the best one in the country. 

“It just seems to me we’ve got an opportunity here that is, given the circumstances which we are faced with, which were made by outside bodies this is a great result for our community, and I’d hate to see it fall over.

“If we’re forced into reviewing our finances, it could well fall over.

“I guess people sometimes have to bite the bullet.

“And I think in this case, the issue of the residential area is a bullet that may have to be bitten, if we want to see the centre of excellence progress.” 

The recent discovery of asbestos in areas of fill on the site complicated negotiations regarding the site’s purchase.

A council report said an assessment had identified the presence of asbestos in several areas of the site. 

Council previously maintained that it remained the responsibility of the state government to remediate the site before the council buys the Bonaira Street property.

Council are still assessing options and investigating costs for the remediation process, although the mayor believed it would likely be a shared arrangement to pay the costs.

The $58 million project has attracted an $8 million commitment ($4.8 million for the council and $3.2 million for the health district) from the state government through the $100 million Illawarra Infrastructure Fund.

Kiama Independent/Lake Times