Residents living near a proposed $98 million seniors housing and childcare complex at Wallsend say the project is a "gross" over-development which will increase traffic problems and overshadow a nearby park.
The Newcastle Herald reported three weeks ago that Charlestown company SNL had lodged a development application with City of Newcastle for six multi-storey buildings comprising 237 apartments, 307 parking spaces, a 106-place childcare centre, gym, cinema, cafe, library and hairdresser off Victory Parade next to Brickworks Park.
Five nearby residents told the Herald they were concerned the development would increase traffic on Victory Parade, which they said was already a "bottleneck".
Wayne Eaton, who has lived in Victory Parade for more than 40 years, said in-fill development in the area had increased traffic and crime and workers on the nearby inner-city bypass were using the street.
"There's been a number of stand-offs with a truck and a bus. One won't give way to another. There's mirrors been broken, and now they want to put in 237 units on a dangerous corner," he said.
"We just feel it's a gross over-usage of the facility.
"The roof height already well exceeds the LEP. It's an over-build for the site."
The development site is on 28,000 square metres of land south of Newcastle Road and 500 metres west of the Jesmond roundabout.
Mr Eaton said traffic entering the seniors housing complex would use side streets to avoid the Victory Road intersection with Newcastle Road.
"The traffic is just going to be enormous and dangerous."
The development application says the buildings will be up to 19.58 metres high, almost double the 10-metre height limit for the site.
"The height has got absolutely no amenity with anything else in the area," Mr Eaton said.
"Another major issue to me and other people is the in-mix of the childcare centre with the seniors overlooking that playground area and also the existing playground in Brickworks Park.
"I think it's inappropriate. These days you can't even take a photograph of a child playing, let alone sit up on your balcony and have a beer and be looking at them."
Another resident said planning authorities were "cramming everyone in without spending on infrastructure".
"This used to be a nice family suburb. Now I don't know where it's going," he said.
Four of the five residents said other nearby developments providing crisis accommodation had increased crime and anti-social behaviour.
"They're visited regularly by the police," Mr Eaton said.
"Involvement in drugs, prostitution, break-ins. Theft around this area has just gone through the roof. The police I've spoken to thought [a pre-school] was a strange mix."
Four other residents also questioned the scale and nature of the development.
"I was happy that it was seniors living, but it's the scale of it with no road and traffic management plan and a strange addition of 100-plus places for a childcare facility," one said.
"It's just a huge bottleneck. We're squeezed in between that development and the bypass."
Another said the proposed buildings were "incredibly tall" and traffic in Victory Parade was "already a nightmare".
"You have to wait and swerve around cars to pass them," she said.
The developer won approval in 2016 for 13 residential buildings up to five storeys high on the site.
SNL lodged revised plans in 2019 for a seniors village, tennis court, bowling green and swimming pool on the land but withdrew the application in late 2020 after the council objected to elements of the design.
The company has now revived these plans, saying it has addressed the council's concerns over the proposal's height, scale, density and impact on the adjoining park.
The development application says the revised development will address a need for seniors housing and childcare services in Newcastle.
"The site is considered ideal for this type of development as it has excellent access to existing services and facilities and transport infrastructure," the application says.
