A development application has been lodged for the new suburb of Coombs in the Molonglo Valley which is expected to house between 5000 and 6000 people and have strict bushfire protection features.
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Coombs is planned to comprise 500 single-residential blocks, 150 terrace blocks and 26 multi-unit blocks for between 1500 and 2500 apartments.
Some of the units would be in developments up to six storeys high.
The first 400 blocks are expected to be on the market before the end of the financial year if the development is approved.
There is also provision for a school and local centre in Coombs.
Some of the homes will be built within 50m of the Molonglo River.
Homes will be subject to a 100m-wide outer bushfire protection zone, which is within the river corridor. A 50m-wide inner bushfire protection zone, in the development area, will be regularly mowed and slashed.
There will also be restrictions on types of housing material that can be used, depending on their proximity to the bush.
The first row of houses constructed next to the asset protection zones will need to be designed to resist a radiant heat attack and the next 75m of houses will need to be built to resist ember attack.
Residents and their architects will also have access to a free service from a home sustainability adviser to help them build energy and water efficient homes, a feature that is being touted as a first for Canberra.
The Land Development Agency has lodged the application for the Coombs estate development plan with the ACT Planning and Land Authority for $50-$60million worth of infrastructure including roads and kerbing. Coombs would be the second suburb to be released by the LDA in the Molonglo Valley, after releases in the suburb of Wright, which will house 3000 people. The new road, John Gorton Drive, will separate the two suburbs as the huge Molonglo Valley housing project continues to take shape.
LDA land development executive director Chris Reynolds said Coombs had been designed to work in with the hilly topography, taking advantage of its main ridges to align streets for views while still addressing solar orientation for houses.
''This approval process, all going well, should be completed within three months and we would be releasing after that,'' he said.
LDA Molonglo project director Ivo Matesic said more than 50 per cent of the residential blocks would be more than 500sqm.
The agency says the blocks will be independently valued, declining to give ballpark figures. A major selling point would be the fact it was within 10km of Civic, Mr Reynolds said.
The suburb of Coombs has already been given Commonwealth clearance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act providing it meets certain measures. Those included providing a 20m buffer zone - including permanent fencing - around habitat for the endangered pink-tailed worm lizard and engaging a wildlife expert to review the habitat before construction.
Mr Reynolds said all those measures would be met.
''We think we've balanced competing interests and come up with workable solutions,'' he said.
ACT Region Conservation Council executive director John Hibberd said he was waiting to see the final development application but had concerns Coombs was too big and intruded too far into the Molonglo River corridor. He also believed there was not enough bushfire protection.
Mr Reynolds said the bushfire mitigation measures for Coombs exceeded both the relevant Australian Standard and the requirements of the ACT Strategic Bushfire Management Plan.
