A plan to more than double the number of flats in an approved seven-storey Fairy Meadow tower has angered nearby residents, who say this "overdevelopment" will dramatically change the character of their street and make their "traffic nightmare" worse.
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Developers of the Beaches Estate, which is being developed along Pioneer Road, were given 1997 approval to build a seven-storey apartment block with six three-bedroom apartments on each floor.
A ground level car park of the building, known as Bel Air, was to contain 82 spaces.
However, TCG Planning director Elaine Treglown has now submitted a proposal asking Wollongong City Council to modify this consent, proposing 84 one, two and three bedroom flats to be built over six levels and three different blocks above a lower "podium" level.
The car park would contain 54 extra spaces, under the new plan.
Ms Treglown said these changes were intended to bring the Bel Air tower in line with the two other Beaches apartment towers, Balmoral and Broadbeach, which were also approved based on 1997 plans and subsequently modified in 2011 and 2012.
She said this would allow the development to "reflect current market requirements".
In objections to be sent to the council, residents of the already-built Balmoral have raised numerous concerns about parking and the effects the modified building would have on surrounding streets.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said the different mix of apartments would "substantially alter the character and operation of the building".
"[There will be] less families and contained households, more students, rental accommodation, and transient residents," he said in his submission.
"It should be noted the Bel Air development immediately adjoins the Towradgi Beach Hotel and it is likely the introduction of one bedroom apartments will likely see transient rental residents having adverse social impacts on nearby residents."
Despite the massive planned increase in the number of apartments, Ms Treglown argued a number of "fundamental components" of the building were unchanged or altered only to a minor degree.
She acknowledged that "there [would] be an increase in traffic generated by the development" due to the extra units, but said a traffic assessment showed this would "have little effect" on the Grand Court and Carters Lane intersection.
But, in a letter to the Mercury, resident Ian Birch said this traffic survey did not account for parking and traffic generated by Towradgi Public School pedestrian crossing, a bus stop, nearby public housing complex and the Quality Apartments and convention centre.
"In the Beaches Estate, contrary to the survey, there is no on-street parking available outside work hours," he said.
"The second tower is under construction now [and] there will be no street parking for residents of this tower, let alone the third tower."
kmcilwain@fairfaxmedia.com.au
