Major step forward for Normanville’s contentious $12m beachside revamp as Yankalilla Council pushes ahead with new cabins

A contentious $12m upgrade of Normanville foreshore has taken a major step forward as Yankalilla Council calls for tenders for 23 new cabins in its caravan park.

An artist's impressions of the Normanville Foreshore & Jetty Caravan Park Masterplan. Picture: Supplied

Yankalilla Council will call for tenders for 23 new cabins as part of its Normanville foreshore overhaul – a major step forward in the holiday spot’s transformation.

But councillors want to sign off on the type of single-storey cabins to be used to revitalise the area and where they will be positioned amid hot debate over how the project will affect the area.

Council chief executive Nigel Morris said construction would begin on Jetty Caravan Park’s new cabins within about six months and on a new surf lifesaving club and kiosk in June 2022.

The two projects are the major components of an $11.7m overhaul plan for Normanville’s waterfront.

“It’s a game-changer for the community,” Mr Morris said. “It creates more of a destination, but it’s also facilities that can be used by locals and generates additional income to help pay for other projects.”

An artist's impressions of the Normanville Foreshore & Jetty Caravan Park masterplan. Picture: Supplied

The council has voted to launch a tender process for the cabins, following a previous decision to build a new surf life saving club and attached kiosk.

Concept designs for that work are due to be presented to councillors on May 3.

But other components, such as a nature playground, carparking changes, larger lawn area and public plaza, will not go ahead until the council receives further government funding.

The project has sparked division within the community, with some raising concerns about how it will affect the area’s character and environment, and worries about the removal of some carparks and its overall cost.

Mr Morris said there were concerns about pine trees being removed, but that was not in the council’s plans.

“There’s been some discontent, but there’s also a lot of people excited about the changes,” Mr Morris said.

“(The) council is listening to the feedback and making adjustments to accommodate that feedback, but it’s not going to go away until we show people exactly what’s going to happen.”

The new cabins will replace those of 13 annual licence holders, which Mr Morris said had been the subject of complaints.

Those tenants have been offered space on the caravan park’s southern side.

“They weren’t the best visual aspect to the front of the caravan park,” he said.

The Normanville Surf Life Saving Club and kiosk will cost $5.1m to build and the cabins about $4m, with the State Government and club also pitching in money.

In response to feedback, plans no longer include a new carpark in the area’s “basin” next to the beach, or an access road in the dunes, and carparks will not be removed from the foreshore.

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