Helen McLucas, who has served on Strathfield council since 2010, resigned on Tuesday night citing a "trashing [of] openness and transparency" by the council over its proposed Korean Memorial Gardens and Culture Centre in Bressington Park, Homebush.

Explaining her decision, Ms McLucas said she believed the council had failed to do basic due diligence on the project, including failing to make public its plans and properly consult with the community before commencing construction works.

"I've been on council for seven years and I've never seen anything like this," Ms McLucas told Fairfax Media.

"This is trashing openness and transparency when, even as a councillor, I cannot get access to information."

The project first attracted controversy in April after Fairfax Media revealed the council voted last year to relocate the development - comprising a community hall, ponds, a playground, and a 140-space car park - from an unused hill at the northern end of Bressington Park onto sporting fields at the southern end.

At the December meeting, council also approved $1.5 million to fund the project, $1million of which was promised by the Turnbull government during the 2016 election campaign.

The council has since clarified that the development will consume the first playing field, and potentially the second middle field, leaving the third field intact. It has also promised to remodel the unused hill into new playing fields.

However, the relocation paves the way for the second stage of the project - which includes a multi-storey cultural centre and larger gardens - to encroach further onto the sporting fields. Council documents state stage two will be built within the next three to five years, providing further funding is secured.

Council is yet to submit its development application for the memorial gardens and cultural centre, which must then be publicly exhibited before proceeding to a vote of council.

Despite having no formal planning approvals in place, deputy mayor Stephanie Kokkolis and Labor Strathfield MP Jodi McKay joined an array of Korean dignitaries for a "ground-breaking ceremony" at the park last month.

Following these revelation, Ms McLucas said she had repeatedly written to council requesting further information on the development but had received "no open and transparent answers to any of my queries".

She said her resignation was triggered by the council's decision to begin building the 140-space car park this week on the parkland, without "one ounce of community consultation."

"Before you start construction it has to go through council," Ms McLucas said.

The car park is being built without a development application on a parcel of parkland at the southern corner of Bressington Park, opposite DFO shopping centre and the busy Australia Avenue roundabout.

"We have no traffic management plan, and it's one of the worst traffic hotspots in Sydney," Ms McLucas said.

A council spokeswoman said the car park was "exempt" from requiring a development application, but failed to respond to further questions from Fairfax Media about the process.

The car park also appears to have increased in size to 140 spaces, up from the original 113 spaces the council voted to approve in the initial concept plans for the cultural centre in December.

Ms McLucas handed her resignation to acting general manager Henry Wong, following an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday to address concerns over the lack of community consultation over the project.

The meeting was called by Strathfield mayor Andrew Soulos, who raised concerns last month that the project was "moving very, very fast".

At Tuesday's meeting, council voted to approve an extension of time for public consultation around a draft plan of management for Bressington Park, which proposes rezoning the park from recreational use to "general community use."

Cr Soulos said he was "happy" he secured the extension, but remained concerned about the rezoning, which he said would allow the council to "do anything that the council wills for the land."

A council spokeswoman confirmed Ms McLucas' resignation and said the council thanked her "for her distinguished community service to the Strathfield Community".