Car stackers are tipped to become more common in inner Newcastle as the city densifies but their use has raised concerns of potential on-street parking impacts.
Newcastle council approved a 30-unit development in Newcastle West featuring a four-level stacker for at least 36 vehicles at a meeting on Tuesday night.
The car stacker is believed to be the largest proposed in the city and drew the attention of neighbours, who raised concerns that development's future residents would have to park on street if it was ever out of order.
Cr Kath Elliott (IND) backed their concerns and said residents would likely choose to park on the street even if the infrastructure was working because it would likely be a hinderance to use.
Cr Carol Duncan (ALP) moved an amendment to ensure visitor parking was separate to the stacker because they require an induction to use, but she expressed concern that council does not have a policy governing their use in new developments.
"Other LGAs have considered policies around them and some don't allow them at all," she said.
"They solve a problem but I do think that's something we need to look at in the future in our own DCP [development control plan]."
Stuart Campbell of Architecture firm CKDS, which designed the unit complex, said the car stacker was proposed because of the narrow development site across 120 Parry St and 16 Hall St.
"It was not quite wide enough to get the car parking to work on multiple levels in a conventional manner," he said. "The other factor we had to deal with was some services that run through the middle of the site, which meant that going underground became somewhat restricted as well. We looked at the car stackers to meet council's parking provisions ... and it became the obvious choice. It was efficient in terms of its area usage."
The development was the first CKDS has formally proposed with a stacker. Mr Campbell said the parking solution would likely be used more in the future, but mainly only on constrained sites.
"They're becoming more and more common in urban areas and we do need to come to terms with the fact they might become more of an option here," he said.
There has been at least seven developments with car stackers approved since 2014, the council said.
Plans for a Cooks Hill unit complex with a two-level stacker were knocked back earlier this year.
Lake Macquarie City Council development assessment manager, Liz Lambert, said she had held "pre-lodgment discussions" with developers about car stackers but they were largely yet to be used.
She expects them to "become more common as housing densities increase" but said they were more likely to be proposed in Newcastle.
"Lake Macquarie's housing densities aren't as high, in most areas, as in some other LGAs, so devices like car stackers may not be financially viable for developers," she said.
"They are generally expensive and have operational costs that need to be borne by the owners."
