It is the council's intention to review the planning controls for the CBD next year, looking at Fitzmaurice Street through to Baylis Street and a couple of blocks on either side of the main street.

Wagga City Council's regional activation director Michael Keys said one focus will be to bring more residential living to the city centre, in a way to activate the precinct for existing and future businesses.

"The whole idea is to improve investment and value of our CBD," he said.

Mr Keys said that the more people living close to retail and hospitality stores, the better chance there is to reactivate the area and bring strong trading hours for shopfronts.

"We don't want to lose our character areas, so let's look at the areas that don't have significant elements to it that we can add to and increase the number of people living close by," he said.

"There is a fantastic opportunity to cater for that new form of living.

"Smaller forms of living, more compact, closer to those services is really what we are looking for."

Wagga businessman Robert Baliva, who is the owner of Thaigga and Tammy's Thai Massage, said the "ambitious urban developments" will provide more opportunities for local business owners.

He said this forward-thinking is much-needed for businesses to thrive, especially if the pandemic continues to take its toll.

"I think [high density] will add a lot of value," he said. "It means more people living closer to businesses, which is a positive."

Although, he said the challenge for the council will be to find a balance because there will always be people who love the small town feel of Wagga.

However, Wagga Business Chamber president Rhyley Hunter said it has to come a stage where the city will need to build up instead of spreading out to the edges.

"The amount of vacancies in the main street is concerning and we need to work on ideas to fill them up," he said.

"The more people living in the CBD ... the more people who will be inclined to walk out their front door to Baylis Street, which will be a lot better for retail and hospitality businesses in particular."

Mr Hunter said the matter of making the precinct more attractive, for not only those taking up leases but for existing businesses as well, was an important discussion to have and there were many solutions.

"I think any discussion the council is having around that - and even in regards to high rises ... is going to be a benefit to businesses," he said.