The members of Waverton precinct, Save Berrys Bay committee and North Sydney Council have been fighting  since 2009 to prevent a huge marina after the Roads and Maritime department awarded a tender to Meridien Marinas for a major development.

On Thursday the Sydney East Planning Panel published its decision saying it was refusing the proposal because of the "high intensity of the proposed use".

"The panel accepts that a decision based on visual impact is subjective and that different minds may reasonably come to different conclusions on it," the panel said. "However the panel is unanimous in believing that the amount of marina proposed in this application is too much for the character of the bay."

"It's an astonishing victory," said long-time campaigner and Waverton resident Bruce Donald.

"We went to the ministers but sadly they said they were unable to help. They flicked it off to the planning process but thankfully this panel has seen the sense in what were were saying."

Residents had objected to the super yacht marina proposal because it would have occupied 32,000 square metres of harbour in a relatively intimate bay.

Thirty of the berths were for yachts over 25 metres. Of these, 13 were for boats over 25 metres and two for yachts over 45 metres.

"That's a ship, which would stand 10 metres high," Mr Donald said.

The residents argued that the proposal was out of keeping with the heritage values of the bay and hired a view impact consultant, David Chesterman, to back up their case. There were also concerns about a floating walkway that linked the moorings for the super yachts with the rest of the marina.

A spokesman for Berrys Bay Marina Company, the company which now owns the development rights, said there was no comment at this stage while the company considered its options.

The community at Berrys Bay have been fighting for 40 years to control the destiny of the former industrial site, which was once home to BP. They fought off a massive housing development and in 1997 the then premier Bob Carr declared the oil terminal site a park.

In 2009 the government awarded a tender for a marina development. It has been scaled back from the original, but still failed to get approval.

It is unclear what will happen next, but Mr Donald said the community would support a smaller marina in keeping with the heritage values of the bay. The panel said it accepted that given the long industrial history of Berrys Bay a marina was appropriate.