A dispute over land values for a huge swathe of prime Bungendore central land will go to the NSW Land and Environment Court, with the Queanbeyan-Palerang council, which owns and manages the land, claiming it has been short-changed by $3.8 million.
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The land value in dispute is that which is under a compulsory acquisition order by the NSW government for the construction of the controversial new Bungendore High School.
The Queanbeyan-Palerang council had valued the two separate parcels of land, one which is a series of prime, freehold properties on Majara St owned by the council and the other recreational Crown land managed by the council, at $14.6 million.
However, the NSW Valuer-General claims the land is worth $10.8 million.
Median property values in the central Bungendore township have risen by more than 40 per cent in past three years.
At its meeting on December 21, the council voted to lodge its objection with the court and even though it will receive 90 per cent of the NSW government's proposed value while the dispute is argued, the rest will be withheld pending the court outcome.
The council is facing significant fiscal pressures as a long-running legacy of the forced merger of the Queanbeyan and Palerang council districts back in 2016 and has flagged the prospect of major rate rises over the next three years in order to achieve financial stability.
Any shortfall in compensation on the high school land acquisition would have a major impact on council's short-term goal to build a new swimming pool at the town's sports hub now under construction.
The existing Bungendore pool and its community centre fall within the land envelope under compulsory acquisition and will be infilled.
The high school's construction schedule reveals this summer's swim season will be the last at the current council-operated, 25-metre Bungendore pool on Majara St, which operates from November to March and provides swimming lessons for all ages and skill levels.
In its project update in December, the NSW government stated: "the [Education] Department will ... meet all requirements for payment of compensation for the compulsory acquisition of the site for the new high school".
"The department has sought for compensation to be determined in the most independent, objective and transparent fashion possible," it said.
The high school's central location has been controversial, with a vocal, local action group opposing the loss of the pool and other prime community recreational assets for an "education precinct" when greenfield sites elsewhere were readily available.
Regardless of the council's concerns, the NSW government is steaming ahead with its high school plans and will house Year 7 and year 8 students in 26 temporary demountables when the first term starts on January 31.
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The haste at which the project has been pushed has created a further issue, with the Bungendore substation having insufficient power to supply the temporary classrooms.
As a result, from 7am to 6pm each weekday, a large, diesel generator will be running to keep the demountable classrooms supplied with power for heating and cooling.
The high school power supply debacle is the latest in a series of issues which have dogged the fast-tracked project which was first championed by former NSW deputy Premier John Barilaro, who had Bungendore within his Monaro electorate.
A divisive figure in NSW politics, Mr Barilaro resigned from the NSW government in December 2021 and then again found himself in the spotlight after his subsequent appointment to a plum NSW trade commissioner job in New York was found by an inquiry to be a flawed process and not in keeping with the ministerial code of ethics.
NSW trade commissioner roles attract an annual salary of $500,000 plus expenses.
The NSW government will go to the polls in March.
Queanbeyan-Palerang Mayor Kendrick Winchester and the NSW member for Monaro, Nichole Overall, were both unable to be reached for comment.
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