Council recently announced it intended to apply for $10 million in funding that would see a complete overhaul of Westend stadium and the addition of a new 50m outdoor pool at the Griffith Acquatic Leisure Centre. 

A public forum to give feedback is being hosted by council on July 26. 

Mr Pierotti said a broader range of groups should have already been consulted for the proposal.

“Council just does’t understand the different between consultation and presentation. This is clearly another presentation after the face,” he said. 

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“Consultation is where you receive open and unedited feedback from the community and then try to collate that to represent the community and their views.” 

Griffith mayor John Dal Broi feels council consulted with key sporting stakeholders. He said council didn’t want to go public with the proposal until they had some level of promise from the state government. 

“We met with the sports council and different sporting groups several times. We didn’t want to go to the community without having some kind of promise from the NSW state government,” he said. 

Given the tight time frame surrounding the application process, community members will have the opportunity to have input at Thursday’s public meeting, Cr Dal Broi says.  

“We’ve got nothing to hold back or nothing to hide. We’ve just got a pretty tight time frame to work toward.”

Mr Pierotti has also raised issue with the Westend location and the proposed location of the 50 metre pool. 

According to Cr Dal Broi, Westend was chosen to meet criteria for the funding application. 

“According to the government, we needed to fill certain criteria. We had to own the land to apply for the grant and we own Westend Oval, but not the showgrounds,” he said. 

He also recently confirmed council planned to match the $10 million state government grant if it was received. 

“Because council is in a strong financial position, we will match that $10 million,” he said at the time. 

Mr Pierotti pointed to the location of Westend as a potential issue. He feels Griffith showgrounds are in a central location. 

“Griffith showgrounds is central to the CBD. It’s also close to Griffith High School, Griffith Public School and Kalinda School,” he said. 

Also raising issue with the pool’s proposed location, Mr Pierotti says the business chamber feels there has been no thought given to extra faculties needed to accommodate the new location.  

Under council’s planning, a 50 metre outdoor pool would be constructed at the Griffith Regional Aquatic Leisure Centre. 

“I also take issue with the location of the 50m pool. The site has been chosen with no provision for facilities, gardens, water slides or parking,” Mr Pierotti said.

Cr Dal Broi feels “ if more parking is required, council won’t shy away from looking at providing more car parking”. 

Residents are invited to the sporting precinct Community Forum on Thursday, July 26 at 6pm at Griffith Regional Theatre.