For almost two decades, a block on Crown Street has sat empty - now the Wollongong Local Planning Panel is deciding on whether to let someone fill it in.
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For 16 years, the block next to the Telstra building on the Crown and Station streets intersection has sat idle - an odd situation in a city where developers are seemingly building everywhere.
But that block of weeds held back by a wire fence could be on the verge of being filled in.
The local planning panel is considering a development application for eight storeys of shoptop housing.
As well as the vacant block, the eight-storey building will also take out the two shops next to it.
A previous application was lodged in late 2021 but was withdrawn after council staff raised concerns about insufficient justification for why it did not comply with building height and separation requirements.
A report from Wollongong City Council staff handed to the planning panel recommended that the development be approved subject to a list of 102 conditions.
These included that neighbouring properties retain access at all times, $317,600 in developer contributions are paid and new footpath paving is laid along the front of the site.
The bus stop located at the vacant block will be removed while construction is carried out.
The proposal would see two levels of parking - one at the basement and one on street level but hidden behind the three commercial tenancies fronting Crown Street.
There would be 43 spaces for residents, which is fewer than the number of apartments - 47.
However a council report identified "challenges with providing basement parking due to the constrained width which would likely preclude internal ramping".
There will be no vehicle access to the development from Crown Street; all access will be via Waters Lane at the rear - a one-way street from Rawson Street to Railway Parade.
"Traffic generation by the proposal and impacts on the surrounding road network including Waters Lane have been assessed by council's Traffic Officer and Transport for NSW and no concerns raised," the report stated.
The owners of the neighbouring lot on the corner of Crown and Railway streets were also in the process of working on an application for a six-storey apartment block on that site.
The council report noted the early design of that corner development "would significantly compromise the right of carriageway" along Waters Lane for the Crown Street site.