Morpeth residents say they are now fighting two development proposals in the historic town at once, with plans for an apartment building in the main street clearing another hurdle.
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Maitland council has put developer GHT Holdings' vision for 24 one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments over three storeys, including one in the roof space, on public exhibition until October 5.
The Swan Street plan features car parking behind the building and along Swan Street in front of the site.
It will be built between the former post office and former courthouse buildings on a parcel of land that had a former life as a petrol station.
Morpeth Heritage Conservation Group says it was already unhappy about Hilton Grugeon's proposal for 130 prefabricated homes at the back of the town, off Little James Street, and its members were equally fired up about this proposal.
The main problem is the absence of a heritage facade, along with the height and scale of the building.
"We are very disappointed the developer has come back with the same design that is out of place with the heritage theme of the town," group president Norm Bruhn said.
"It's extremely over the top with regards to scale, mass and height.
"The three storeys overwhelm the surrounding properties, especially the former post office building. This building will be as high as that, if not higher."
The developer has now submitted four different building designs, and updated archaeological and contamination reports.
The design has been created to reflect a series of large and small buildings which nod to the use of the site as a foundry.
"In the heritage precinct you are not allowed to replicate, so we couldn't have built a sandstone building there to copy or replicate what is existing within the Swan Street commercial precinct," project manager Chris Unicomb said.
"I don't think we'll ever get it accepted from the local residents of Morpeth."
Mr Bruhn hit back, saying he didn't expect the developer to copy existing buildings but he did hope the architect could have designed a building with a heritage style.
"We've always said all along if they reduced it to two levels and changed the style of it we feel the community would be accepting of it," he said.
Mr Unicomb pointed out that the third storey would be in the roof space. He said the size of the building would remain unchanged if there were only two storeys as council regulations has dictated the pitch of the roof.
Mr Unicomb has received inquiries from some Morpeth residents who would like to buy one of the apartments and take advantage of the chance to downsize.
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Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
