LAKE Macquarie council is set to acquire a parcel of state government-owned land in Teralba which it plans to consolidate with existing property for future use as a recreational facility.
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The council is expected to endorse the acquisition of about seven hectares of land from the Hunter and Central Coast Development Corporation at a standing committee meeting next week.
The $35,000 purchase of two adjoining lots on Griffen Road would allow the council to combine the land with a further 42 hectares it owns to the north and west, which borders The Weir Road and Cockle Creek.
The land deal has been years in the making, with negotiations protracted due to the need to investigate the site's potential contamination from historical uses.
With those risks now mitigated and agreement reached on the terms, the council is set to endorse the purchase on Monday.
A staff report prepared for the meeting says the council has been consolidating land adjacent to the site for the past 20 years to "eventually deliver a substantially sized, mixed-code sporting facility".
"Acquisition of these final parcels represents the last lots required for a significant sport offering within west Lake Macquarie," the report says.
"Further detailed planning is required to identify the final recreation use of this land.
"However, consolidation of the subject land with council-owned adjoining lots will provide a larger contiguous site with broad opportunities for varied sporting facilities."
The broader land the lots would be amalgamated with is largely unused, and is considered to have limited uses due to the risk of flooding.
A couple of hectares are leased by Lake Macquarie Miniature Aircraft Club, which has been flying at the site for more than 20 years.
Club secretary Brian Stevens told the Newcastle Herald on Friday the club's five-year lease was coming to a close and was due to be renewed in January.
He said there was obviously land surrounding the club's site that could be used for other recreational activities, but the club had no plans of shifting from its site and was unaware of plans to redevelop the area.
While the land is earmarked for recreational facilities, the Herald understands the council is yet to draft detailed plans. The site is considered ideal as it is central to the growing population in the city's north-west.
Tim Cox, Cricket NSW's Lake Macquarie manager, said having cricket fields at the site would benefit multiple nearby clubs.
Lake Macquarie Dockers president Brad Farrell said playing numbers had not yet outgrown the two ovals the Australian Rules club uses at nearby Tulkaba Park, but were likely to rise with the region's population boom.
