Canberra Racing continues redevelopment talks with ACT govenment

It's an interesting position given the turmoil the government created two days earlier when they revealed they were investigating how they could redevelop the Lyneham site fully - if they booted Canberra Racing off the land.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has since come out to clarify Thoroughbred Park was their race club's home for as long as they wanted - they currently have 60 years to run on their lease - and the government had no plans to shut down the industry in the ACT.

Unfortunately the ACT Greens do have plans to do exactly that, which was why the revelations - ironically on Melbourne Cup Day - the government was investigating two options for Thoroughbred Park caused so much angst in horse racing circles.

While booting the race club out was listed as option b, the other option listed in the government's Inner North and City District Strategy was close to what Canberra Racing had planned.

They lodged their Territory Plan Variation with the government more than a year ago, which meant there's less than a year to go.

Pearce met with the government on Thursday to continue talks about the redevelopment, which could include 3300 dwellings in a mix of residential and commercial accommodation, with a hotel and an aged-care facility also potentially part of the plan.

"It's 80-20 our plan. There's some stuff we want to finesse in the plan," he said.

"It's a great step forward, the government plan has recognised it's substantially right and we're aligned on 80 per cent, 20 per cent we're apart and we just need to finesse that through.

"That's why I'm going to meet them now. Option a is recognition our master-planning is in good shape.

"We just need to get on the same page with 20 per cent of the ideas we're not aligned with and then we can hopefully get re-zoned and be development ready to set ourselves up for the long run."

Pearce was looking to have the final plan finalised by the middle of next year, while also finding a construction partner.

It was what the meeting with the government was all about - further nutting out exactly what was and wasn't possible for the site.

It's a development the government's keen on given it's location along the light-rail line.

Especially with revelations from Barr on Thursday that Exhibition Park was his No.2 option for a new stadium.

That would mean Canberra Racing's plan would help create infrastructure like bars and restaurants a new stadium there would badly need.

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No wonder the government was considering what the precinct would look like if they also redeveloped the track and moved it elsewhere.

"That goes by the zonings that are in that document - the RZ3s, the RZ4s and RZ6s - that goes to what you're able to do there," Pearce said.

"The zoning is taken care of and then it's your density - what's your ratio of land to buildings, let's you know how high you can go.

"That's the sort of detail we've got to finesse with them to get that right."

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