A developer intends to buy the weatherboard homes in Malbon Street, provided Palerang Council removes them, making way for a big supermarket, specialty shops and a car park.

On Thursday night the council will consider rescinding the decision to remove the cottages.

The contentious development is one of three supermarket projects.

The others are expansion of the existing IGA supermarket and one proposed by Canberra's Krnc Group, which recently sold its IGA at Hawker to Woolworths.

Principal John Krnc said: ''We started purchasing land 18 months ago and I think we can put something together before anybody else does. Bungendore doesn't need two or three supermarkets, it just needs one good one.

''It's a bit confusing and I would have kept our [development application] right under the radar, but I brought it out a little bit publicly, so [grocery wholesaler] Metcash knows about it as well.''

The group's acquisitions include land on which French restaurant Le Tres Bon operates. Mr Krnc said the restaurant would not necessarily have to move.

The new supermarket would ''more than likely'' be an IGA.

Councillor Garth Morrison said if successful on Thursday night, his rescission motion would allow the council to go back to a 2007 decision to keep the homes and develop land at the back of them.

''Two thousand signatures in a town of 2000 voters can't be ignored. Even it were 1000, I would struggle to ignore it, but it is a huge amount of the community supporting these two houses.''

Councillor Peter Marshall said: ''I'm concerned even if a medium-sized supermarket goes ahead, that would be no deterrent to Coles or Woolworths coming in.''

Cr Marshall said council had no master plan to steer developments, which meant three larger supermarkets could be approved.

In a small place, allowing the market to dictate development could bring unintended consequences.

''You can have developments failing before they've even started,'' Cr Marshall said.

On a brownfield or greenfield site such development could be worth the risk, but Cr Marshall said ''doing it in the middle of a reasonably cute little town like Bungendore is a risk that really concerns me''.

Lifelong Bungendore resident Maureen Elgood said the cottages were not ostentatious, only little workers' cottages.

''But that's what our town is. We don't mind if the homes are used for small businesses. It's annoying when big businesses come in, they can ruin a whole town.''