Residents near the proposed new Newcastle Basketball Stadium will gather at the planned site on Saturday to voice concern about the potential loss of community ovals.
Newcastle Basketball is planning to build a new stadium at Wallarah and Blackley ovals at New Lambton to replace its ageing facility at Broadmeadow, which is on a site earmarked for high-rise housing.
An environmental impact statement is being prepared for the state-significant development.
A community group with more than 400 Facebook members, Save our Lambton Ovals, has listed concerns about traffic and flooding impacts as reasons the development should not go ahead. A parliamentary petition opposing the project also attracted more than 1500 signatures.
Save our Lambton Ovals co-admin Jacqui Rosewood said members had been asking for a meeting to voice their issues.
"This proposal was announced to the community more than a year ago ... with zero consultation with the local community," Ms Rosewood said.
"People just want to be heard. We also want to be publicly talking about what people can do when the environmental study and DA come out for comment.
"The community has been very clear. Wallarah and Blackley Ovals are not the correct location for the basketball stadium."
The group has invited elected representatives to the meeting. Ms Rosewood said Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery, ward three councillor Katrina Wark and candidates in the upcoming council election had registered their attendance.
The Greens have referenced the development proposal in a planning pitch for the council election.
The party wants Newcastle council to manage and deliver the redevelopment of Broadmeadow rather than the state government's Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation (HCCDC).
The council and NSW government are responsible for the Broadmeadow Place Strategy. HCCDC will be the government's delivery agency for the precinct and will prepare a business case to investigate funding and delivery of key infrastructure.
The Greens ward three candidate Sinead Francis-Coan said the basketball stadium was an example of a project Newcastle council should be taking the lead on and consulting the community about.
"The uncertainty and lack of information is leaving the community to try to piece together the plans," she said.
"Flooding and transport studies are said to be completed but they still haven't been released. We need access to all the information available so that the community can make their own minds up about this proposal."
Greens councillor and mayoral candidate Charlotte McCabe said the Broadmeadow redevelopment was "the most significant urban densification for Newcastle in a generation".
"Keeping the community at the centre of the planning and project management process is essential, particularly on public lands, to ensure a livable city for all," she said.
"This will not be possible with the HCCDC as the delivery agency. There's a deep distrust in Newcastle of the NSW government making poor decisions on our behalf and we can't afford to make mistakes during our best shot at solving the housing crisis."
Greens ward two candidate Joel Pringle said the public exhibition on the Broadmeadow Place Strategy had closed, and he was concerned "most people in Newcastle are still unaware of the huge changes proposed".
"Particularly for the rezoning of public land," he said. "It's clear we need to take a different approach."
