A showdown is brewing between residents and developers over plans for Trigg’s popular Yelo cafe.

The West Coast Drive coffee hot spot is no stranger to controversy — it’s had parking problems, claims of licence breaches and threats of a million-dollar fine.

Now, the site is under offer and the buyer’s plans for a three-storey apartment building have the locals up in arms.

Phil and Pam Botsis, who have lived two doors down from the cafe for 18 years, said the proposed building would be too big.

“To have such a huge building on a small site, it’s not going to look good, I don’t think,” Mr Botsis said.

“It’s not in accordance with what this area is.”

For Roy and Ann Burton, who live right next door, the proposed building will block out a massive chunk of their million-dollar view of the ocean.

“There’s going to be development but at the same time I would hope that it wouldn’t be quite as high and as bulky as I fear it might be,” Mr Burton said.

The plan, from developer Momentum Wealth, is to build two floors of three apartments plus a ground floor cafe extending to the boundaries of the 685sqm block.

Mr Botsis said the plan would be better suited to an area closer to Scarborough, where residents are still fighting plans for 3Ocean’s $450 million twin towers development on the site of the old Contacio Bar, fearing the area will become another Gold Coast.

At 43 and 33 storeys, the towers will be more than twice the height of the 18-storey Rendezvous Hotel.

Camera Icon The 685sqm block which is home to Yelo has been sold to Momentum Wealth, with plans to build right to the boundary.

Janet Pettigrew, from action group Sunsets Not Skyscrapers, said she had not given up hope the project, which was approved by authorities in June, could still be canned.

“We’re going to make sure that this is a thorn in the Government’s side for as long as is necessary because we care about Scarborough,” she said.

But Scarborough Beach’s Sandbar owner Ben Randall believes the twin towers will put the area on a global stage.

“Not just tourists from interstate but it’s going to be tourists from Asia, America, everywhere that want to come and experience this really once-in-a-lifetime development,” he said.

Just over the road, the White Sands site has been bought by a Woolworths-owned development company. Plans are still to come, but shops, apartments and more high-rise are expected.

Further north in Sorrento, the days are numbered for another popular cafe.

The land including Voyage Kitchen and the BP service station will make way for a five-storey development including restaurants and apartments.

“To have that density of living in prime real estate beachfront destinations, we’ve just been crying out for that and the knockers, I mean we’ve got to wake up,” Mr Randall said.