Sixteen large events with up to 1700 spectators, players and staff are proposed for the planned new basketball stadium at New Lambton per year, according to new documents lodged with the application.
Newcastle Basketball is planning to build a new 12-court indoor stadium over two stages on Wallarah and Blackley Ovals including a 2,500 seat show court. The association has lodged a raft of assessment reports as part of an environmental impact statement.
One of those documents outlines how traffic demand for larger events with up to 2500 people would be managed.
Traffic is one of the major issues for residents and community members against the proposal, who argue local streets would be used as rat-runs and for parking during big events.
A traffic event management plan lodged with the application said the 240 car spaces proposed would allow for normal day to day activities as well as the larger weekend events at the facility, with peak demands associated with afternoon games which could generate a turnover of 500 people per hour.
Larger events could include National Basketball League (NBL) games, which would typically attract about 1700 attendees to the venue and are expected to occur 16 times per year once established. Full house events for 2500 people could also occur once or twice a year, but are not anticipated for "some time".
The documents state scheduling of NBL games and tournament dates would be planned to avoid event clashes with McDonald Jones Stadium across the road, to make shared use of the 920 car spaces at the football stadium for overflow parking.
The 90 degree street parking on Monash Road would also provide overflow parking during NBL events "consistent with other events held in the precinct".
The event management plan says the stadium is within "walking distance" of a train station. Broadmeadow is the closest station to the site, about 1.5 kilometres walk away.
A traffic impact assessment states peak demand for usual operations would be 4pm-8pm on weekdays, with 804 vehicle movements estimated to occur between 4pm-6pm.
A traffic modelling report for the sports centre determined that "no to minor extra delays would be expected across most surrounding intersections after construction of the proposed Hunter Indoor Sports Centre".
Optimisation of traffic lights phase times was recommended for the intersection of Turton and Griffiths roads.
In regards to flooding, an assessment report said there would some changes to flood risks off-site as a result of the development but that these are "minor and represent a negligible change in flood risk to existing property and infrastructure".
The courts will be on the western and north sides of the site to avoid the area of greater flood risk, with the car park being in the most affected area.
The proposed development was found satisfy all relevant flood risk management requirements except a condition of the Newcastle DCP relating to flood hazard of areas used for car parking.
The report said that requirement could not be satisfied without impacting floodways and flood storage or having implications off-site, so non-compliance with the condition was considered the better option.
The report said visitors "should be advised to park off-site (such as on Womboin Road) or arrange alternative transport if they are concerned about the potential risk to their vehicle during periods of heavy rainfall".
