Belmore Basin: staff back 36 apartments, residents fear lost views

Council staff have recommended approval of a 36-apartment development that would replace the five-storey Boat Harbour Motel at Belmore Basin, Wollongong, but the recommendation is not a consent. The Wollongong Local Planning Panel makes the call, and the Illawarra Mercury reported on 13 October 2026 that it was due to consider the plan that evening. No determination had been published when this edition closed, so we do not report one.

For Illawarra builders and agents, the practical point is the affordable housing height bonus: it is carrying a harbourside, mid-rise scheme, and the staff report found its neighbour impacts acceptable except for views. If the panel agrees, it is a template for how far a state bonus stretches on a constrained heritage-edge site. For the wider market see Sydney.

Why it matters

The application is DA-2025/871, listed by Wollongong City Council as a residential flat building and shop-top housing including affordable housing at 7 Wilson Street. The Illawarra Flame has named the developer as ADM Projects. It is integrated development, meaning it also needs approvals under the Water Management Act and the Heritage Act, and the Local Planning Panel is the determining authority, with the council as consent authority.

The PlanningAlerts record shows the application was received in early December 2025. It proposes a six-storey residential building and a seven-storey shop-top building, with a cafe and two basement levels, on the motel site and a neighbouring house, according to the Mercury.

Residents at 2 Wilson Street are the main objectors. The Mercury reports that the council report finds views from level two and above at their building will be obscured, with impacts described as “severe to devastating”. The same report finds building separation, traffic and pedestrian access acceptable. Les Wilson, speaking for the residents’ committee, told the paper: “As a committee and owners here, we are definitely not against development.”

That is the tension the panel faces: a plan staff consider compliant with the bonus rules, against neighbours who lose outlook rather than sunlight or access.

The numbers

The Mercury reports 36 apartments, eight of them designated affordable (six two-bedroom and two three-bedroom), and 60 basement car spaces, mostly for residents. Twenty-four submissions were received during exhibition. The bonus requires at least 10 per cent of gross floor area to be affordable housing, according to the same report.

The Illawarra Flame, in a 31 December 2025 report, put a $24 million price tag on the project as stated by the developer and said the bonus would allow a 30 per cent higher floor space ratio and a 4.5 metre height increase. That article listed 58 basement spaces against the Mercury’s 60, so the design may have changed since lodgement. We have not seen a council cost-of-works figure, so treat $24 million as outlet-reported.

What’s next

The panel was due to decide on the evening of 13 October, so its determination record is the next thing to check. If it approves, expect conditions on construction management, view and privacy treatments and the heritage and water approvals the integrated pathway requires. If it refuses or defers, ADM Projects could revise the design or seek a review.

We will update this story once the determination appears on the council’s DA tracker. Until then, the plan remains a proposal, and nothing here should be read as approved.