Three-storey oceanfront home goes to council vote after community pushback

Port Stephens councillors will decide at their next meeting whether to approve a $4 million, three-storey house at Anna Bay that has drawn nearly 100 submissions and a petition from hundreds of residents.

The plan to demolish a single-storey home at 13 Ocean Avenue and replace it with a three-storey residence will go before the Council's ordinary meeting on October 27, with staff recommending approval despite strong community objection

The development application, lodged in December by Perception Planning on behalf of landowner Angelo Gabriel Di Stefano, has a stated cost of works of $3,958,990.

Cr Jason Wells and Cr Ros Armstrong asked for it to be decided by the full council in the "public interest".

The 610-square-metre site sits on the oceanfront edge of Anna Bay, next to the waterfront reserve near Moore's Pool and the Tomaree Coastal Path, and borders the Birubi Point Aboriginal Place.

The house would keep the existing double garage on Ocean Avenue and rise to the 9-metre height limit that applies to the low-density residential zone.

Council received 46 submissions and a petition when the plans were first exhibited in February, then a further 52 submissions when a revised design was re-exhibited in June.

The petition's organiser has told the council the objections stand for the revised plans.

The petition raised four main concerns; loss of neighbourhood character, privacy, traffic and parking, and community amenity.

Objectors also raised overshadowing, noise, loss of ocean views and the prospect of the house being used for short-term holiday rental.

Speaking at a public access meeting on Tuesday evening, neighbour Andrew Searles said the community was not against development.

"When the same developer sought approval for this site in 2016-17, we did not object," he said.

"This one is different.

"The applicant's own planning report says it was 'deliberately designed as an oversized dwelling', and it shows."

Mr Searle questioned the council reports characterization that the design was compatible with the emerging residential character.

"Who decided what Anna Bay's 'emerging' character is, and when were residents asked?" Prof Searles said.

"That is a decision for the community, through the Anna Bay Place Plan, not something to be settled one development report at a time.

If that yardstick can be used here, it can be used in any street in Port Stephens."

The original design was 9.8 metres high, 0.8 metres (9.18 per cent) over the limit.

Staff did not support that variation and asked for changes with the revised plans complying with the 9-metre limit.

Submissions lodged in late June, after the revised plans went back on exhibition, show residents were not won over by the changes.

One objector wrote that "buildings of this size belong on the Gold Coast not in the village of Anna Bay", a comparison that also appeared in a separate January submission.

Another warned that approval could see similar houses "along all the oceanfront blocks, as the older buildings are replaced".

"There is a genuine risk of creating a visual wall along Ocean Avenue that diminishes public enjoyment and community cohesion," another submission reads

The same writer warns of a precedent for "mega-sized" beachfront homes, and says they support "moderate, respectful densification".

A writer who described themselves as a long-term resident and owner-occupier and called the design "ugly" and said "Residents of Anna Bay do not want 3 storey developments in this community."

Another urged the council to "retain the two-story limit for waterfront properties in Anna Bay", arguing large houses "limit the sense of openness" along an oceanfront that is public land.

The council report says the 9-metre limit allows three storeys and that no specific planning control rules them out.

The report concedes three storeys is "not the predominant form" in the area, which it describes as largely older one and two-storey homes, but argues the controls allow it and that Ocean Avenue already has a mix of one, two and "increasingly" three-storey houses.

On the holiday-let concerns, the report says council cannot refuse the application based on a possible future use, and that short-term rental accommodation is exempt development under state housing policy if it meets the general requirements.

Councillors can accept the staff recommendation, amend it or reject it.