Now farmers say they are in the fight of their lives to protect their livelihoods and their right to farm from a proposal to carve up 610 Seaham Road into 38 two-acre residential blocks.

"I'm disgusted," cattle farmer Peter Manuel said.

"We've been fighting development next door for seven years now, how much longer do we have to keep fighting before the decision makers kill this plan off for good?."

Most Port Stephens councillors rejected a rescission motion at Tuesday's council meeting and cemented the proposal on a path to the state government's NSW Department of Planning Industry and Environment, which will have the final say.

Before that Councillor Giacomo Arnott had urged his colleagues to "knock it on the head", saying the community knew the area better than anybody and they didn't want it to go ahead.

"I care about protecting our farmers and if any councillors here do you need to reject this proposal," he said.

"How can we possibly put someone's livelihood at risk like that? There's not just one person, there's a whole community of people who's futures and livelihoods for them and their families depend on the decision we make.

"The state government can make any decision. We have the power to stop it, we have the responsibility to stop it and we should be stopping it."

He had support from councillors John Nell and Ken Jordan.

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Cr Jordan pointed out the council hadn't bothered to let the farmers know about the proposal - even though it didn't have to - before it was put before the council meeting last month.

He pointed to an aerial map in the council report which showed three chicken sheds facing the front of the proposed site.

"You're looking here for an odour study and the direction of the wind - who gives a stuff - these sheds create their own wind. This has potentially 30 to 40 fans facing the development, blowing chicken dust at them," Cr Jordan said.

"The property development should say please don't buy the land if you don't like chicken smell, you've got hay fever, you sneeze and you've got allergies because you're going to get rained on."

Deputy Mayor Cr Chris Doohan mostly agreed with Cr Arnott but felt halting the plan at the council wouldn't give farmers any closure. He rejected the rescission motion.

He told the farmers to "save your energy and use it at the state government level".

"There's a developer out there that's got that land and that will just keep going again, and again, and again," he said.

Mayor, Cr Ryan Palmer, said the project was consistent with council plans and he was pleased to hand it over to the state government.

He noted his vote in that direction did not mean he was rubber stamping it, and there were a range of issues that could be its demise.

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