Vivacity Property eyes 298-home land lease community

The Sydney-based land lease operator has lodged a development application for Shoalhaven’s newest suburb, Badagarang, on the NSW South Coast.

Vivacity Property already owns and operates Over 55s land lease communities Tallowood Medowie in Port Stephens, in NSW's Hunter Region, and Stratford Gardens in Tahmoor, a small town in NSW's Macarthur Region.

The operator has also started building the 514-home Natrium Coral Cove in Innes Park, a coastal town in Bundaberg Region.

The Weekly SOURCE reported in April Vivacity Property had acquired two existing land lease communities in South Australia.

The development application was lodged with Shoalhaven City Council. The consent authority is Southern Regional Planning Panel. Vivacity Propertyseeks approval for the:

• Demolition existing farm buildings within development footprint;
• Retention of an existing dwelling;
• Construction a land lease community of 298 moveable dwellings, country club, recreational facilities, civil works (private roads and stormwater infrastructure).

The development proposal was on exhibition from 8 April 2026 to 7 May 2026.

The Southern Regional Planning met on 26 May 2026 and identified key issues including:

• The Applicant’s ability to satisfy Clause 7.11 of the SLEP 2014 regarding access. From the Panel’s perspective, ensuring that access arrangements are in place is a precondition to the grant of consent, and this requirement cannot be conditioned. It was noted that the access was subject to a separate development application, which would be lodged soon. The Panel was of the view that both applications should be considered concurrently.
• The housing typology, how a Land Lease development functions, and whether the dwellings would be manufactured offsite or onsite.
• Inconsistency with the DCP, particularly regarding the provision of public infrastructure, and the retention of roads and drainage infrastructure in private ownership.
• The release area has been designed to provide permeability through and within neighbourhoods. How was it intended to provide pedestrian permeability within and through what is essentially a gated community?

Thomas Copping (Planning Manager, Vivacity Property), Stephen Carroll (Senior Development Manager, Vivacity Property), Rebecca Lockart (Principal Planner, Allen Price), Genevieve Vu (Senior Associate, DC8 Architects), Gemma Wood (Associate, Group Manager, Northrop Engineers), Erin Holswich (Northrop Engineers), and Laurence Gitzel (Associate, Northrop Engineers) attended.