A PROPOSED apartment building along Anzac Highway should be cut down from eight storeys to three, according to West Torrens Council.

The council believes the development should not go ahead because it will spoil the character of the Glandore area and is taking advantage of a “technicality”.

Councillors resolved last week to write to state Planning Minister John Rau stating their opposition.

The $10 million-plus project is the first to take advantage of the height limit allowed along Anzac Highway in the West Torrens urban corridor zone.

The site does not directly border the Glandore area because of an unusual “hammerhead” allotment to the south, which effectively puts a buffer between the land and the character zone.

If the site directly abutted the character zone it would be limited to three storeys, under the West Torrens development plan, instead of the eight-storey capacity of the urban corridor zone.

However, Cr Michael Farnden told the West Torrens meeting while the development was technically allowable, it went against the spirit of the development plan.

“In 2013 while conducting community consulting on this development plan we received a huge amount (of resident submissions) ... wanting to protect the character of Glandore, which was agreed to by the minister,” he said.

“It is only a technicality which is allowing this.”

The building plans include 36 two- and three-bedroom apartments, 36 parking spaces and a cafe on the ground floor.

The owners, who wish to remain anonymous, lodged plans in June. Their application is under consideration by the Development Assessment Commission. Project manager Angelo Polymeneas told the CoastCity Weekly last month the owners hoped to build a quality development that could set an example.

The council also decided to distribute letters to residents in Glandore and Kurralta Park to inform them that the development is a DAC decision, not West Torrens’s.

Councillors had expressed fears at the meeting that they would be blamed, should the DAC approve the proposal.

The application was classed as a category one development, with no opportunity for the local community to make submissions.

Planning Minister John Rau said the DAC was responsible for the assessing the application and must take into account all relevant provisions of the development plan.