Nelson Bay businessman David Monin, whose family owned a building bought for the extension by the council 15 years ago, led a charge against the plan after becoming aware of it days before the end of the 28-day public exhibition period.

"I hope the planned concept [that was on exhibition] is thrown out and a new planning process begins with more involvement from councillors, council staff and the constituents," Mr Monin said.

The Monin family owned the building at 106 Magnus Street, which was bought by the council 15 years ago for about $700,000.

In 2012 the council bought land between Magnus Street and Victoria Parade, estimated to have cost $2 million. Buying the building and land has allowed the council to move forward with the plan to connect the town centre with the foreshore, which has been on the agenda for years.

Mr Monin sought support for his petition against the proposal at a Nelson Bay business chamber meeting last Thursday. He also urged residents to lodge submissions against the plan.

Mr Monin said his greatest problem with concept five, which was put on public exhibition after councillors voted for it at the February 25 meeting, was that it did not provide a viewing corridor.

"Why has council strived to purchase these properties for the past 15 years to create a link to the waterfront only to now propose the smallest access and view corridor possible?" he said.

Mr Monin was concerned about how narrow the one-way road would be between the two buildings either side of the traffic corridor, and had mocked up images based on measurements in the exhibition documents.

Mr Monin made the images public on a Facebook page called Yacaaba St Road Extension.

However, a Port Stephens Council spokesperson said the images were not accurate.

"The images on the Facebook page differ from those placed on exhibition and are not an accurate portrayal of plans for the site of the Yacaaba Street extension," the spokesperson said.

"While the design placed on exhibition contained a conceptual building footprint, it is highly likely that no building will be constructed during the first phase of the extension, which is yet to be costed and scheduled.

"Regardless, future building on the site would be subject to separate design and development processes, at which point further exhibition and consultation will occur."