GREEN THUMBS UP: Warners Bay Community Group members Collis Leanes, Shelly Wilson, Ben Henley, Steve Taylor and John Jarvie in Bunya Park, Eleebana.
A BATTLE that has lasted as long as World War I in the usually sleepy suburbs of Lake Macquarie may have come to an end.
For four years Warners Bay Community Garden Group negotiated with local residents and Warners Bay Landcare to establish a community garden in Bunya Park, Eleebana.
Lake Macquarie councillors approved the gardeners' development application at last week's council meeting in a packed council chambers.
A Bunya Park reference group will be created as a condition of the community garden approval, to act as a reconciliation process between the opposing groups.
The reference group will likely be made up of two community garden members, two Landcare members, two councillors and two local residents.
At the meeting, several councillors called for the garden to be designed for a different site, despite the council staff and the previous council agreeing that Bunya Park was the best site for the group.
Councillor Rosie Okeno said council staff had thoroughly investigated 14 site options and the findings should be trusted.
She said conditions on the development application should address residents' concerns about parking and water quality.
The community garden will be built in two stages.
The first stage is proposed to take one to three years to complete, and will involve the construction of raised vegetable gardens and compost bays, installation of water taps and bike racks, and the planting of citrus trees.
Stage two will involve the construction of herb gardens, shade house, worm farm, storage shed and rainwater tanks.