A LONG debate on proposed building height limits in Kingscliff's draft locality plan has left council staff urging councillors to seek further public consultation before finalising anything.

Councillor James Owen on Thursday asked the council to consider organising a series of resident meetings to gain further community input about the proposed three storey limit in some parts of Kingscliff.

"I've got some serious concerns about the proposal,” Cr Owen said, referring to the March 16 decision to limit the building height of medium-density residential zones to 12.2m and business zones to 13.6m.

"Those concerns have been informed with some pretty intensive consultation with council staff and the community engagement that was done.”

Referring to previous council-led community consultation, Cr Owen said the public wanted to see some areas of Kingscliff allowed to possibly build to five storeys to accommodate a library, parking and other development space.

"(The community) were happy to say they would be open to five storeys in certain areas,” he said.

But Cr Ron Cooper, who ran for the council on a platform of no high rises, disagreed with Cr Owen's claim people would be happy with five storeys.

"The workshop didn't come up with five-storey buildings,” Cr Cooper said.

"The workshop only came up for support of three storeys.”

The council's planning director, Vince Connell, urged councillors to consult further before making a decision.

"I urge council to certainly take the time with this and seek further consultation with the community before we create the document, which would be the legal document that would have a major bearing on the development of Kingscliff,” Mr Connell said.

Councillors voted against extra consultation at this time, but Mayor Katie Milne said further assessment on height limits could be made during the public exhibition of the draft locality plan.