THE City of Greater Bendigo has told a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing a proposed housing development in Flora Hill is a "complete mismatch" for Bendigo.

Submissions made by the City's legal representative Egils Stokans were heard as part of a two-day VCAT hearing which began in Bendigo Magistrates Court today.

The tribunal also heard from a number of residents who object to the proposed 15-lot subdivision in Curtin Street.

A total of 87 objections to the development were received earlier this year following an application for a planning submitted on behalf of developing consultant Terraco for developer Pendlebury and Associates Pty Ltd. 

City of Greater Bendigo councillors voted unanimously against the development at a council meeting in June, but the VCAT hearing was sought on behalf of the developer, who are appealing for the development to go ahead.

The first day of the hearing began with sitting tribunal member John Bennett telling the court he had not yet inspected the proposed site but would later in the day.

Mr Stokans then outlined a number of the city's planning concerns with the proposal, including its "cramped" architectural response to the site, the density of housing on a block of its size, issues to do with pedestrian and vehicular access to the site and the overall impact of the structure to the streetscape. 

"Being a two-storey form, it will dominate the streetscape in a way which is not encouraged by the council planning scheme," he said. 

But he said council's main issues centred on the development's failure to reconcile policy objectives to meet the needs of a changing community and the need to maintain neighbourhood character - mainly consisting of single-storey, low density, post-WWII houses.

He said the development's proposal for 14 out of the 15 units to be three bedrooms or more "ignored the trend towards smaller household sizes".

He said council had to plan to meet community needs, which included the need to consider student housing and single-person housing in line with the regional growth plan, as well as the needs of Bendigo's growing population.

"We say that it is a complete mismatch for what policy is trying to achieve in Bendigo," Mr Stokans said.

The tribunal continues tomorrow.