A six-storey apartment complex with a basement carpark and commercial space proposed for the centre of Dunsborough is now out for public comment.
The development application is for the site on the corner of Dunn Bay Road and Cyrillean Way, on which a Puma petrol station was previously proposed.
It states that the development would ensure the Dunsborough town centre "continues to grow as a vibrant, functional centre".
The ground level would include a grocery store, cafe with alfresco seating, commercial spaces as well as public open spaces. Level one would include a restaurant, a liquor store, a fish and chip store and commercial spaces.
Levels three, four and five are a mix of residential apartments of varying sizes.
The development site falls under the 2017 R-A Coding 3 of 'activity centre' which allows for a building of up to six storeys.
Dunsborough Progress Association chair Tony Sharp said the group had not made a formal decision on the application but held concerns about traffic, Dunn Bay Road frontage and the overall height and bulk.
He said the association supports multiuse development and high density in the town centre.
"But there are limits, there are some good points about the development, but unfortunately the local developers are pushing it to the max," he said.
The application provides a traffic analysis states the development "will not have an adverse impact on the operation of the local road network".
But Mr Sharp claimed the traffic report used mainly winter 2018 statistics which were "pretty useless given the recent growth in the town".
"...and winter stats will not give an indication of potential problems. There are some 2021 stats regarding the Codes parking lot, but again, these are winter stats," he said.
A spokesperson for the developer said the 2018 data was accessed from the City of Busselton.
"In order to establish existing traffic flows, our transport consultant Transcore undertook traffic count surveys of Dunn Bay Road and Cyrillean Way during the 11am-12pm peak hour on Saturday 24 July 2021," they said.
Mr Sharp said the Dunn Bay Road frontage design was poor.
In terms of the height, Mr Sharp said while legal, the building was out of proportion to the rest of the town.
"For this alone, we [association] hope the city planners will not be supporting the development application as it stands."
The application is available on the City of Busselton website and open for comment until December 3.
Jemillah Dawson
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
I started as a journalist in 2011 and now manage mastheads in the South West of WA. My passion is politics and sport. I believe we are the voice for the community but also we inform the community of what they need to know. Email jemillah.dawson@austcommunitymedia.com.au
