Leigh Stewart, left, with Leigh Robinson and Barry Weston, from Wollongong Rotary Club, at Mount Keira Summit Park. Picture: ORLANDO CHIODO
The view from Mt Keira at the lookout's official opening in March, 2004. Picture: KIRK GILMOUR
Mt Keira Lookout in August, 2007. Picture: ORLANDO CHIODO
Vegetation returning and interrupting views in April, 2010. Picture: KEN ROBERTSON
A row of gum trees restricting the view from Mt Keira Lookout in January, 2012. Picture: KIRK GILMOUR
Former real estate agent and charity worker Leigh Stewart claims Mount Keira Summit Park, one of Wollongong's best vantage points, is fast losing its view.
The Mount Ousley resident told the Mercury he was horrified at the unkempt state of the popular lookout when he recently took his children for a bushwalk.
"It's embarrassing," he said.
"The trees and shrubs are overgrown, the telescopes have been taken away and the [cafe] building is closed up with barbed-wire fencing all around it - it looks like a prison."
Mr Stewart took to Facebook to vent his frustrations, setting up the "Save Mt Keira Lookout" page on February 8 - it has since attracted more than 600 likes and dozens of comments.
Mr Stewart believed the community anger towards the situation was indicative of wider concerns over the state of the city.
"I think people are feeling in some corners of the city there's a general untidiness and state of shabbiness around the place.
"The added problem at Mount Keira is the road is closed so, I think it's a bit of a case of: 'Out of sight out of mind' from [Wollongong City] council.
"Over the years the cafe has been allowed to deteriorate to a point where a bulldozer is the only option for it, and now the lookout area is generally untidy and overgrown."
Mr Stewart called on the council to clean up the site and investigate possible private investment options for its long-term future.
However, Wollongong Botanic Garden curator Paul Tracey, who is responsible for the park's upkeep, said three staff carried out daily maintenance on the site, including "toilet and barbecue cleaning, mowing, weeding and path clearing".
Mr Tracey said the current "natural condition" of the site was due to 12 years' worth of regrowth after a bushfire swept through the area in 2001.
He said the council would work with the site's owners, National Parks and Wildlife, to remove some of the trees within 10 metres of the lookout fence.
"We will be reinstalling the binoculars shortly, following repairs due to repeated vandalism over the past 18 months," he added.
"The council has also installed four new barbecues at the site."
Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the council would consider a public-private partnership if a company expressed an interest in building and operating a venue.