![Councillors have rejected plans to build two townhouses at the rear of a Kruger Street property. Councillors have rejected plans to build two townhouses at the rear of a Kruger Street property.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/f879eeb7-0d6c-4cec-a9ee-634f06803e2f.JPG/r0_161_4032_2992_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Plans to build two new townhouses at the rear of a Warrnambool property have been rejected because extra traffic would cause "utter chaos".
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City councillors went against the recommendations of planning officers, and voted unanimously to reject an application to build two three-bedroom, double-storey dwellings at the rear of a heritage cottage in Kruger Street.
The council's chief executive officer Andrew Mason said planning officers had assessed the application and found it to be generally in accordance with the planning scheme.
The proposal - which is on a property subject to a heritage overlay - attracted nine objections.
Cr Angie Paspaliaris put forward an alternative motion to refuse the proposal because the development's scale and density didn't respect the neighbourhood character while extra traffic and car parking issues would unreasonably impact residents.
She said a different version of the proposal was approved by the council some years ago but later overturned by the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal.
Cr Paspaliaris said while the proposal had been modified, she firmly believed it was not in keeping with the local neighbourhood.
![The two townhouses would be at the rear of a heritage cottage in a narrow one-way street. The two townhouses would be at the rear of a heritage cottage in a narrow one-way street.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/a9fe4729-7b3c-4cbe-b8eb-6b7ea23f073a.png/r22_69_556_278_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"It is a very narrow one-way side street. It has limited on-street parking just to one side. It is in a very busy hospital district," Cr Paspaliaris said.
"The time for this type of development has been and gone.
"With the increasing development of the hospital, the busyness, the parking issues that already exist. I feel that this is not an ideal development for this area."
Cr Paspaliaris said the proposal was "very different" to what already existed in the area.
Cr Max Taylor said he was dismayed at how narrow the street was.
![The two townhouses would come with double garages. The two townhouses would come with double garages.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/nB9BrLNgExsfwsLgDBevWP/b5300634-953e-4923-b458-fd1a09e6e566.png/r10_14_871_350_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
He said extra traffic would cause "utter chaos". Each of the new dwellings come with double garages.
Cr Richard Ziegeler said the development didn't respect the existing neighbourhood character.
"It would be an incredibly heavy imposition on the existing residents," he said.
"It's just not right to impose these kinds of intense developments on people who already live there."
Cr Vicki Jellie said the double-storey development was inappropriate for an already congested street where it was already difficult to negotiate for residents backing out of their driveways.
"I don't think we should just agree to infill on someone's back yard for the sake of getting another building there that doesn't fit," she said.
Cr Debbie Arnott said it wasn't until you saw the street and visualised the property that you understood the impact that extras buildings would cause.
"I do acknowledge that we do need housing," she said.
"Whether this is the right type of development for that area, I'm unsure. When I'm feeling unsure about this I'm going to accept the alternate motion."
Cr Otha Akoch said he was concerned about safety with the additional traffic.