The city will soon see new multi-storey developments, including a hotel on Forsyth Street, a residential and retail block on Blake Street and the Riverside Apartments on Sturt Street.

There are those in the business community who hope that these developments and others like them will help revitalise the central business district with an influx of new residents and visitors.

On the other hand, there are concerns from residents who have spent their whole lives on Wagga's inner city streets that their quality of life will suffer impacts from building shadows, loss of green spaces and increased traffic.

The arguments for and against multi-storey projects have played out repeatedly as part of development applications debated by Wagga City Council.

However, a Morgan Street project that is still in its early concept stage has seen a larger number of people voice their opposition than with previous proposals.

With the NSW government and the council aiming to increase Wagga's population to 100,000 over the next 20 years, it's clear that the city will have to weigh up which compromises the community is willing to make in return for growth.

The days of being almost guaranteed a parking spot metres from an intended shopping destination in the CBD have ended as Wagga embraced its role as a service centre for the wider region.

At the same time, it makes no sense to throw away an area's liveability when building high-rise developments to capitalise on that same liveability.

Building high-rises is no magic bullet for a city's issues.

There are plenty of examples of what not to do, courtesy of engineering faults in Sydney high-rises and areas of Melbourne with dozens of apartment buildings but no focal point for community life.

Wagga should keep an eye on ground floor needs when building towards the sky.

Rex Martinich, journalist