In one corner is the developer, GHT Holdings, which has spent two years refining the design to meet Maitland council's requirements and be as sympathetic as possible to the surrounding heritage landscape.

In another is the Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group - and its petition against the development which has already collected more than 800 signatures. The group says the building will dominate the surrounding landscape and overshadow the town's unique heritage feel.

But not everybody in Morpeth agrees. Morpeth Business Association has backed the developer and believes the extra short and long-term accommodation will be an asset to the town's economy.

Then there is heritage expert, and Maitland Heritage Guardians founder, Chris Richards who has an entirely different perspective.

Mr Richards said the existing building, which council approved for demolition in 2007, was "a rare rural interwar Spanish Mission style automobile garage" and there are only a few examples of this type of architecture left.

"The plan is too big for Morpeth and it's completely out of character with the heritage aspects of the town," Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group research officer Ken Brown said.

"Morpeth is unique and this building is inappropriate in one of the most prominent parts of town - the main street."

GHT Holdings submitted a development application to build 28 units on the site alongside the historic post office in 2017. It later removed it to work on the finer details.

The latest plan has 24 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments in an east and west wing with a walkway in the centre.

There will be 24 car parks under a car port at the back of the site and 12 out the front on Swan Street.The design has been created to reflect a series of large and small buildings which nod to the site's former life as a foundry.

Project manager Chris Unicomb said the walls of the building were two storeys high and the third floor apartments were contained in the roof space.

"Due to the roof pitch being 27 degrees, which is the minimum and which complements the other roof styles in Morpeth, it creates additional height that allows units to be built within that roof space," he said.

"If the building was only two storeys it wouldn't reduce the height. We've had a lot of input from the council planners in the process. Over the last two year period there has been a lot of changes to the design to try to appease as many people as we can."

Mr Brown said the facade should be similar to other buildings in the street, but Mr Unicomb said a regulation in Maitland council's Development Control Plan prevented that.

"The building has come about by following all of the guidelines - we cannot replicate the historical buildings in the area. We can't have the same facade as all of the other buildings in town because it's not historical," he said.

Mr Richards said the existing garage should be incorporated into the design.

"This building is a stark reminder of the evolution of Morpeth's and the Hunter's early transport history," he said.

Morpeth Business Association vice president Trevor Richards said with a bit of landscaping residents wouldn't even notice the building in a few years.

"They are going to retain the building and use it for short and long term accommodation and Maitland is desperate for accommodation, particularly high quality accommodation which this complex will be," he said.