Elvin Group push forward with 2500-dwelling Kamberra Estate, along Lyneham light rail corridor

Elvin Group are in the process of securing approvals necessary to develop the two blocks, which border Exhibition Park and Thoroughbred Park, at an approximate cost of $800 million.

A population of up to 5000 people would live across 2000 to 2500 dwellings if their plans are realised.

The company began public consultation in 2015 but were stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic and, in October, submitted a Draft Territory Plan Variation to rezone the site from broadacre to a commercial mixed-use zone.

The group expects the variation to be completed in the first half of 2023, which would open the door for an Estate Development Plan and individual building development applications, allowing building development to commence in 2025.

The site formerly housed the Kamberra Winery, and is now used by the Kamberra Function Centre and Palliative Care ACT, with the latter to be retained in Elvin Group's development plans.

The final residential profile has not yet been established, but the group has committed to at least 300 three-or-more-bedroom dwellings, 800 two-bedroom dwellings, and a bottom line of no more than 40 per cent of any particular dwelling type.

Residences will be designed to support "aging in place".

"A traditional retirement village is not currently proposed," Kamberra Estate's social planner Tania Parkes said in a statement.

"Instead, apartments will be constructed to at least the silver standard of the Livable Housing Design Guidelines, ensuring housing meets the need of the community, including those with disabilities and older residents, allowing for aging in place."

A mixed-use area including a commercial and retail hub is proposed in the area adjacent to the Phillip Avenue light rail stop, while offices, serviced apartments and/or a hotel are proposed closer to Flemington Road.

The development will also include a "warehouse living precinct", where buyers can obtain apartment shells and personalise the internal layouts.

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Gungahlin Community Council president Peter Elford said the Kamberra development plans were different to anything in the area.

"Unlike a lot of developments it feels like it's about the right scale, in the right place," he said of the planned estate.

"It will be good to get some more value out of the light rail investment, more people using that, so I think it's generally a pretty well considered idea."

Watson Community Council's Simon Clarke said the residents group had been included in public consultation in 2019, out of which three main concerns had arisen.

"We felt perhaps it was a bit of an over-development," he said.

He added that large-scale developments had been proposed by Yowani Country Club and Thoroughbred Park in the area in intervening years, "so it's not as if it's going to stand out hugely".

Residents also flagged concern about who would tend to the Sullivan's Creek precinct, as well as whether the residential development, serviced by the Phillip Avenue light rail stop, would cause public transport overcrowding.

The Territory Plan Draft Variation is open for public comments until November 18.

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