The details of the estimated annual retail spend of residents to live in the area are contained in a retail needs assessment of the suburb lodged with the ACT planning authority as part of the development application for stage two of the suburb.

Hundreds of pages of documents were recently lodged covering the next stage of the development, which will see about 800 new dwellings built in the area just north-west of stage one and the Straithnairn homestead, bringing the total dwellings to about 1100 across stages one and two.

Population projections forecast about 3900 residents in the west Belconnen development by 2020, rising to 11,700 by 2030 and out to 30,000 by 2054, though it may not rise quite as fast given the forecasts were made in late 2013.

Plans detail how the development will proceed over the next 40-odd years, including the removal of numerous "low-grade regulated" trees in the area, though the ACT government-Riverview joint venture plans to protect several higher-grade trees as well.

It comes as the government also on Thursday released a draft variation to the Territory Plan to allow the joint venture not to supply gas to homes and businesses established in stage two, expanding the gas-free pilot project beyond stage one.

The grounds for not having to supply gas to stage two were based on the West Belconnen structure plan, a document that forms part of the Territory Plan that governs the entire Ginninderry development.

Removing clauses mandating gas supply could be used across the remainder of the greenfield site, if the expanded trial in stage one and two is deemed a success.

The retail report shows the total expected retail spend of all 35,000 residents once the development is complete to be $998 million, though the figure was based on extrapolating 2013 retail spending data, and is conservative, while the population figure also includes 5000 residents in the surrounding area outside Ginninderry.

Of that, the report estimates residents would spend some $266 million, or about 27 per cent, on food alone.

It also shows only one shopping precinct for the development, which would not be built until at least 3500 people have moved into the suburb, meaning residents will have to travel to Kippax, Belconnen town centre or further afield for groceries.

Riverview director David Maxwell said while the supermarket was expected by 2025 originally, the timeline had since been pushed back, and it was unlikely to be built until 2026 or 2027, given stage two construction would now start next year, rather than in 2016 as originally thought.

He said the joint venture was also prevented from opening a supermarket until eight years after the Territory Plan was changed for the development, meaning the earliest it could start construction was 2024.

In the meantime, Mr Maxwell said the developers would be opening a small corner store near head office The Link, near Straithnairn, which would provide coffee and staples such as milk and bread to residents.

Documents lodged with the planning authority also show the joint venture arguing residents would likely shop at Kippax, and backing a planned expansion of that shopping centre, despite residents' long-standing concerns car parking was already at capacity there.

Mr Maxwell said the development meant more pressure would be on the owners of the Kippax shopping centre to develop a second supermarket.

But the demand for carparking at Kippax may be slightly lessened, given the joint venture plans to have its own shuttle bus service to Kippax operating as soon as the first residents move in to stage one, as government buses only run in greenfield areas once a critical mass of population is reached.

The report forecasts enough demand would likely exist for an 8000-square-metre retail centre in Ginninderry by 2025-26, which could be expanded to 12,000 square metres by about 2035, with a 3500-square-metre supermarket to opened in 2025-26.

That supermarket would be joined by a second shop, such as a discount or smaller chain store, of about 400 square metres, and 1400 square metres of specialty shops in 2025-26, while a second full-line supermarket of about 1500 square metres would be built by about 2035-36.

The second supermarket would also be joined around the same time by a further 1300 square metres of speciality stores and another 250-square-metre 'mini-major' retail shop in 2035-36.