The ACT government is paying real estate agents more than $50,000 to value blocks of land in NSW near the Ginninderry development, despite construction of any properties on the land in NSW unlikely to start for at least another decade.
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It comes as the ACT government is set to submit an application for the next suburb in its Ginninderry cross-border development by the end of the year.
The Ginninderry development is a joint venture between the ACT government and Riverview Developments, a subsidiary of the Corkhill Bros group.
There is expected to be about 30,000 residents and 11,500 homes across four suburbs in the west Belconnen region. Development is well under way in the first suburb, Strathnairn, and almost 200 properties have been occupied.
A Suburban Land Agency spokeswoman said a development application for the first stage of the second suburb, Macnamara, would be submitted during 2021.
Ginninderry will be the first cross-border development in the ACT. The land in NSW is owned by Corkhill Bros. The territory government bought the Corkhills' land on the ACT side of the border for $4.5 million in 2016.
Last year, the NSW government approved a rezoning application for the 600-hectare parcel of land on the NSW side, which would ultimately pave the way for 5000 properties for about 13,000 people.
The Suburban Land Agency spokeswoman said the valuation on the Parkwood Road blocks was being taken due to this rezoning. Among the blocks being valued is the block of the Ginninderry Homestead.
But when asked for further elaboration another reason was given by the spokeswoman: "The SLA is undertaking this work to understand the value of the Parkwood land given its proximity to the Ginninderry development".
The ACT government has paid two agencies for valuations of the same three blocks on Parkwood Road. Real estate firms Colliers International and CBRE have been employed to undertake the valuations. The former will be paid $26,015 and the latter $27,060.
It came as Riverview Developments recently submitted a development application to the Yass Valley Council to construct a road in Parkwood.
The NSW government approved the rezoning of Parkwood through a program designed to speed up planning assessments in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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As part of the program, a development application was required to be submitted within six months of the July 2020 approval.
The Yass Valley Council recommended the rezoning of Parkwood in 2019. This followed 11 years of consultation.
Criticisms of the project have previously been raised on the preservation of Indigenous heritage near the site, along with the potential of an increased bushfire risk.
Ginninderry has been promoted as a "borderless community" but it has yet to be determined whether the ACT or NSW was responsible for the delivery of services in Parkwood.
This will be determined through the Parkwood Protocol - an agreement between the Yass Valley Council and the ACT and NSW governments. This protocol would help to enable discussions around services and infrastructure.
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