Councillors will decide the fate of a contested eight-unit development at Soldiers Point on Tuesday, with council staff recommending approval despite neighbours arguing the building should be classed as a residential flat and rejected.
The Newcastle Herald reported in February that nearby residents opposed the $4.7 million development at 23 Soldiers Point Road, which would demolish a 1930s cottage and remove mature trees, including two large Blackbutts.
Some neighbours had argued the area was an important koala corridor.
Eight months on, the application from Cerretti Holdings Pty Ltd is the first item on Tuesday's council agenda.
The fight has narrowed to a technical argument about whether the building should be considered multi-dwelling housing or a building of residential flats.
The site is zoned for low-density residential use. Under Port Stephens' planning rules, that allows "multi-dwelling housing" including townhouse and villa-style homes where each dwelling has its own access at ground level.
It does not allow "residential flat buildings", the term used for apartment blocks, banning them outright.
The council's assessment report says the development clears that bar.
Staff point to a 2016 Land and Environment Court case, which found stairs can count as ground-level access as long as they form part of the dwelling.
Officers say each of the eight units has individual staircases, and recommend approval. That includes allowing the building to exceed the council's nine-metre height limit.
Neighbour and planning lawyer Ian Woodward said he isn't convinced.
He is arguing the development has every hallmark of an apartment block due to a shared basement-style car park with mechanical car stackers, a shared driveway, communal lobbies, a lift running to every floor, balconies instead of backyards, and one strata title over the whole site.
He said the ground-floor access used to justify the approval weren't part of the original design.
"If the plans already complied, there was no need to change them," Mr Woodward said.
Mr Woodward said the same pattern has played out before on Soldiers Point Road, with those developments cited as evidence of the area's character.
"Each approval makes the next one easier to justify," Mr Woodward said.
Submissions made on the latest plan raised the same concerns.
"The buildings and car park fill the site," one resident wrote.
"I understood council prohibited development this big and looked like this because it wanted to stop having such a negative visual impact on the area as well as the services such as sewer, water etc and local roads."
Another was blunter.
"It is selfish to build a block this big, with such a large footprint with absolutely no regard to the neighbours," they wrote.
"There has been inappropriate unit development at Soldiers Point in the past," a further submission said.
"This should not contribute to the poor planning of the past and should be refused."
Mr Woodward said he understood the growing need for housing, but argued Soldiers Point is not a growth precinct.
"Council's own Local Housing Strategy directs density towards town centres, transport hubs and new growth areas," he said.
"On any realistic view of location and price point, eight beachfront units at Soldiers Point are not key worker housing, and are more likely to become holiday homes or short-term rentals.
"It would be very surprising if it would assist the housing crisis."
