Port Stephens Council cuts Salamander Bay site footprint to 1.36ha

Port Stephens Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night, 27 October, to endorse a smaller development footprint for its land at 155 Salamander Way in the Salamander Bay town centre. The site shrinks from 2.25ha to 1.36ha, which the council puts at a 40 per cent reduction. The change follows a campaign by the Mambo-Wanda Wetlands Conservation Group, and the Newcastle Herald reported it on Instagram.

For a NSW builder or agent working the Hunter, the headline is that the housing yield is meant to hold. The council says the smaller site will deliver the same number of homes by using the full 15 metre height limit, which means taller shop-top buildings on less land.

Why it matters

The council is both the landowner and the planning authority here, so this is a change to its own development plan, not a determination on a private application. According to the release, the revised footprint sits entirely outside the Mambo Wetlands and its buffer zone, and the area of environmental land being protected rises by 66 per cent.

The shift came after a meeting with the conservation group on 9 July 2026, which Councillor Roz Armstrong said prompted the council to rework its earlier plans. Councillor Nathan Errington credited the outcome to input the council had received from upward of 1,200 locals, spanning residents, conservation groups and business owners.

That makes the site a useful case for operators who deal with wetland-adjacent land in regional NSW. Resident pressure did not stop the project. It moved the footprint off the sensitive land and pushed the same housing into a denser, taller form. Councillor Watson pointed to more shop space and a mix of housing types, including shop-top and lower-cost homes, on the reworked site.

The council has also previously resolved to put a share of the eventual sale proceeds towards the Mambo-Wanda Wetlands, including an update to the wetlands plan of management. Mayor Leah Anderson tied the land to the council’s push for key worker housing near jobs, shops and transport.

“No aspect of the proposed development is on the wetlands or the current buffer zone,” Councillor Armstrong said.

The numbers

The development footprint falls from 2.25ha to 1.36ha, about 40 per cent smaller on the council’s own figure. Protected environmental land increases by 66 per cent, according to the release. Buildings would use the maximum 15 metre height allowed on the site. Engagement on the plan drew input from upward of 1,200 locals. The release does not state a dwelling count, a sale price or a development cost, and none is reported here.

Proceeds from the future development are earmarked for local infrastructure, an infrastructure need also listed in the Hunter councils’ $938m infrastructure ask, which the council lists as roads, intersection upgrades and new pathways.

What’s next

The council says it will complete further assessments before lodging an application to subdivide the development site. No subdivision application has been lodged yet, and no private developer has been named. Any buyer or development partner for the land would come after that subdivision step, so builders and agents watching Salamander Bay should look for the subdivision lodgement as the next dated record.