The proposal is to amend development controls at 524-544 Rocky Point Road to allow a five-storey residential complex with a ground floor supermarket.

The site is owned by Sans Souci Central Pty Ltd and Supabarn Supermarkets.

Rockdale Council approved a three-storey commercial and residential development at the site in 2008 after the Planning Department imposed height and density restrictions.

A letter to the council from Planning Department director-general Sam Haddad last November said the 19-metre height of the proposed buildings would need to be determined ``in the context of a strategic consideration'' by the council of its vision for the area, and the ``likely impacts of the scale of development proposed''.

Mr Haddad said the determination of the proposal should be undertaken within a strategic urban design framework and that this would require close consultation with Kogarah Council.

``This should include the future development of existing commercially zoned land on both sides of Rocky Point Road north to the Ramsgate commercial/retail centre together with the impact on adjoining residential land,'' Mr Haddad said.

``Council is to ensure that this letter is placed on exhibition with all other relevant information so that the public is made fully aware of the Department's position.''

Rockdale Council extended the public exhibition period of the proposal, which was to close on January 29, until February 8 because the letter was ``inadvertently omitted from the exhibition material''.

A Kogarah Council spokeswoman said Rockdale Council had notified it of the exhibition of the draft local environment plan on December 16, but Kogarah Council had received no response to its request for information about the work Rockdale Council had undertaken on its vision for its side of Rocky Point Road, including proposed zoning changes.