Travellers who set up camp at St Cyrus five years ago have made a fresh bid to remain at their illegal site.
Retrospective planning applications have been lodged for a 10-stance caravan park and halting site for Travellers at North Esk Park.
The homes originally appeared on farmland close to the River North Esk in 2013.
After refusing permission and instigating enforcement action, Aberdeenshire councillors voted overwhelmingly to grant retrospective permission for the creation of an official halting site in 2016.
However, the application was called in by the Scottish Government when Sepa objected after revealing the site had flooded in 2002, 2012, 2013 and the aftermath of Storm Frank in 2015.
Scottish ministers overturned the retrospective permission and the Travellers were given until July 31 to clear the site.
Aberdeenshire Council then agreed to extend the deadline by six months and has been involved in “continued dialogue” with the North Esk community.
The Travellers were told by officers that any “fresh application” would need to address the reasons for refusal at the site, including the “risk to life” from flooding.
One objector who has been at the heart of the local battle against the development said the new application was a “stalling tactic”.
She said: “We find it very difficult to understand a planning system that allows multiple applications after being discredited at the very highest level.
“Does this mean that any failed applicant can keep on trying as they are pushing against the open door which is Aberdeenshire Council?
“Failure to clear the site would mean that anyone can ride rough shod over the finer points of planning.”
The new flood risk assessment lodged with the application states that ground raising work has “significantly reduced” the risk of flooding to the site.
The report said the pre-development site would have been flooded by a one in 200-year event.
However the ground being raised as part of the accommodation work has “significantly reduced this flood risk by limiting flood depths to no more than 0.1m across almost all the site”, the report claims.
It added the flood hazard of the access road to the south of the site is considered to be very low and floodwaters could be traversed on foot.
Accounting for climate change, flooding will be “generally less than 0.1 metres” and flooding to the access road could be up to 0.27m.
“Despite the increase in flood depth to the access road, the flood hazard remains unaltered,” the report adds.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have received new planning applications for the Gypsy/Travellers site at North Esk.
“One of the applications seeks full planning permission for the permanent part of the site and that application is currently live, and a second application regarding the halting site is awaiting further information to allow the application to be made valid.
“At a meeting of the full council in June, councillors noted the efforts being made to identify alternative sites for the residents of North Esk and of the progress being made towards the submission of a new application for the existing site.
“It was agreed that a further six months of engagement and dialogue take place in the pursuit of an acceptable solution for the situation and that a report be brought back before the full council on January 17, 2019. That remains the case.”
