First Woolworths was built beside Gloria Sherwin's Bermagui home on Young St, cutting off part of her view, and now a three-storey house will be going up behind her back fence.
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The home she has lived in since 1954 is directly behind the controversial 9.45metre tall house that will be built at the back of the Lamont St commercial arcade.
"It's going to be slap bang right in front of our view," the 85-year-old said.
"I'm devastated about it.
"It's not just me and my view. It gives incentives for others to go up as well."
The plans were approved by Bega Valley Shire Council at its general meeting earlier this month, but despite being a direct neighbour Gloria, who does not use emails, said she was not sent a letter from council that the vote was about to take place or she that could make a submission to council for the meeting.
"I thought it could have been a meeting at a different time when the [COVID-19] virus wasn't around and then a lot of residents could have attended," she said.
"If circumstances had been different and we could have had our voice at the meeting, there could have been a different outcome."
But council's director of community, environment and planning Dr Alice Howe said Gloria did not make a formal objection to the proposal, instead three family members made submissions on her behalf and all three were notified late 2019 about the coming meeting.
Dr Howe said at the beginning of the assessment process one of Gloria's daughters requested all communication be made through the family due to the potential stress of the situation on her mother.
Gloria's daughter Vicki Sherwin said separate submissions had been made to the development application's original plans, then Gloria was part of a 40-page joint submission from Young St residents to its ultimately-approved revised plans - but she did not know they had to write more submissions for council's meeting.
"I don't think this building goes with our town," Vicki said.
"This is going to change everything about Bermagui.
"It means every resident can go up to 10 metres high."
Vicki also found the approval of the house to be "totally contradictory" to what council had outlined in its Draft Local Strategic Planning Statement for Bermagui.
In the document's section on desired future character, it states Bermagui should retain its "low-rise character", that new buildings enhance the built environment with "building scale and heights that retain existing amenity and character while allowing design flexibility", and that "ocean views are shared through sympathetic design".
The Young St residents' joint submission argues the applicable B2 local centre zoning under the Bega Valley Shire Council's Local Environmental Plan 2013 only allows for a one-storey "shop top" home to be built over a commercial premises, like the Lamont St arcade.
It also argues the 10 metre height measurement should have been taken from the existing ground level on Lamont St, at the base of the arcade, rather than Sherwin Lane.
But Dr Howe said the height of development is taken from the existing ground level as a point of reference vertically through the site.
"Height is not measurement from the lowest existing point of a site to the highest point of a building as this would restrict any development on land with any upward sloping profile," Dr Howe said.
"In this case, a portion of the residential component (shop top housing) is above the commercial component and height has been measured from the highest point of the building to the existing ground level below in accordance with the definition."
She said a detailed assessment about character and view loss has been made for the original and revised development and presented to council for determination.
