North Beach residents are concerned about design of a proposed multi-storey development

Ashley Tidy said there were several issues with the planning of the development, including what appeared to be a poorly designed bin storage area.

Mr Tidy outlined his complaints in a submission to the City Of Stirling in which he said the proposed four-storey, 20-plus development at 99 Flora Terrace was inappropriate, given the surrounding area.

‘My first concern came about when I saw such a poor -quality development in regards to planning; the area they’ve put aside for a waste disposal area is in the back corner and has no access for vehicles, trucks or even people to take their waste out to the street,’ Mr Tidy said.

‘There are something like 29 proposed apartments; if the City of Stirling are looking at implementing their three-bin strategy next year, there’s 29 by three on a front verge that’s no more than 20 metres long.

‘For me it was just a gross oversight of what they were planning and the detail put in.’

Mr Tidy said problems didn’t stop with waste disposal, with the imposing scale of the building out of character with the surrounding area.

‘Most residences are about five to six metres from the verge area, while this development is only four to five metres off the road way and it goes vertically four stories up, and it’s just a flat front, which is in stark contrast to the rest of the area,’ he said.

‘The amount of detail put into the design is embarrassing. I actually find it mind boggling that they think they could put something through that is so unprofessional.’

‘I’m all for development, but not to that scale.’

Local resident Joe Albahari said he also didn’t believe enough thought had been put into the design, leaving large areas of flat, uninterrupted walls.

‘The east-facing facade will be an ugly blight on the streetscape; it consists predominantly of monotonous lines,’ Mr Albahari said.

‘A well-designed structure of this size would be broken up into several smaller architectural elements; it’s not visually or architecturally interesting.’

Mr Albahari also questioned the practicality of the waste disposal area.

Mr Tidy said he understood the reasons for building applications to be referred to the Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP), but questioned whether the panel was overrun with applications, with more than 600 currently filed.

‘What kind of scrutiny does an application go through?’ he said. ‘I know the panel was brought in to speed up the development process, to get applications for development through. If that level of scrutiny isn’t there, will these developments be pushed through?’

A Stirling spokeswoman said the City was not yet in a position to comment on the development, as it was yet to appear before the JDAP.