The purpose was to allow community members to voice their opinion and for council members and councillors to consider the town’s standpoint.   

There were two proposed developments. The first was Paul Carmody's, Kyeema property, with Mr Carmody proposing to re-zone the land into 2100 x 12,000 square metre lots on the north side of Gundaroo. The second was from Salvestro Planning, with a proposal to develop on the 40-hectare site known as Sutton Road and Faithfull Street.

There was tension in the hall as residents were split over the rezoning proposal. Many tabled concerns about the lack of planning in the area and suggested that the proposals fail against the regional planning policy. 

Speakers suggested that council hadn’t addressed the high costs to ratepayers nor the special nature and culture of Gundaroo. Concerns over insufficient infrastructure were raised as was the fact that the area is a natural habitat to six endangered species.

Supporters of the development expressed that more housing would increase the viability of economic growth and social evolution. 

Yass Valley Mayor Rowena Abbey, general manager David Rowe and six of the Yass Valley councillors were in attendance. A few council staff were also present including Director of Planning and Environmental Services, Chris Berry.

Mayor Abbey opened the discussion to the floor announcing the 23 presenters with three minutes of presentation time each. Speakers had to register with council and be a part of the 135 plus people who made submissions to council on the proposal's public exhibition. 

Mike Milligan, a member of Friends of Gundaroo was the first speaker, and through a visual presentation suggested that the information in the strategic plan was "misleading" and "false" which merits grounds for rejecting the proposals.

“It looks like the information has been taken and turned upside down. I have great faith in our council, I’m sure they will use their best judgment in making their decision,” Mr Milligan said. 

A representative of the Gundaroo Community Association (GCA) said that most residents are bitterly opposed to the plans, and are too scared to fight. 

“It will interfere with our unique footprint and would be an irreversible loss for both the village and NSW.”

Local resident Justin Barley questioned "need" and "necessity", submitting that no one has proved that the plan has been necessary. Another local resident John lewis pointed out the lack of infrastructure and planning in the proposal.  

“We are doing this all wrong, we need to make a 10-year plan that includes the infrastructure of water and sewerage. Without any environmental investigation we risk future impacts. The flow on effect could be devastating,” Mr Lewis said.

Jenny Mooney was amongst many residents in support of the proposals advocating there would be many economic benefits to the developments. 

“This development can be done sustainably, any increased business is good business. As a business owner I can’t rely on local business, our investment is focussed on tourism,” Ms Mooney said.

Kevin Robinson from Gundaroo began his presentation saying that he was there to talk about something that most of those present didn’t know about. 

“There is evidence of threatened species habitat in the area,” he said. 

“This proposal should not be passed as it could endanger this area. Some of these species are nesting three metres off the ground and if development were to disturb or damage this habitat these species will disappear." 

Many residents supporting the developments pointed out that change is inevitable. Believing that if the community doesn’t get involved now, in years to come private investors will make them anyway and it will be out of the community's control. 

After the 23 speakers were finished, Chris Berry explained that all submissions would be carefully read and the views of the community will be weighed against the proposal. 

“There is a process, we will be carefully evaluating submissions and then make our recommendations to the council. We can still accept, modify or reject the proposal, but we won’t know until we have evaluated everything very carefully,” he told the Tribune.

Mayor Abbey later said that it was a very useful forum for both councillors and staff. 

“We came away with a better understanding of what the community wants. Positive and negative, and most of the concerns were valid,” she said. 

“I think it’s one of those things that change is inevitable and really it is a combination of how we do it, if it is done right and in the best interest of the community then it is positive. However, I won’t make any judgments until the report is in.”