People opposed to trees being chopped down on a former golf course to make way for Orange's $25 million sports precinct held a last-minute protest on the site on Sunday.
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Organised by the Futuring Orange group about 120 people stood on the land just off Forest Road at Bloomfield to form the word 'both'.
It comes just one day before Orange City Council is set to hold an extraordinary meeting to decide the fate of the first 250 trees planned to go on the site.
Organiser Kate Hook said they observed social distancing, wore masks and sanitised for the gathering to comply with the health regulations in the latest COVID-19 rules.
She said shifting the sports precinct to the originally-planned site on the Northern Distributor Road and saving Bloomfield site's trees to create a new parkland would give Orange two gains.
And she said more time should be taken to look at all options as it would not affect the availability of the state government funding for the sports precinct.
Orange mayor Cr Reg Kidd confirmed the meeting would still go ahead in the council chamber from 7pm on Monday.
He said social distancing rules would reduce the number of people allowed in the council chamber.
However, he said the meeting would be live-streamed.
Cr Kidd said a secondary viewing room would be established downstairs at the council offices where people who could not be in the chamber due to the space available could view it.
He said the meeting would still have a public forum where five speakers on each side of the debate would be able to give their view.
A staff report to the council meeting has recommended they proceed with the tree removal.
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