The sites have attracted a significant amount of interest with a range of views and issues raised during two public exhibition periods in 2014 and 2017.

Both the NSW Office of Water and the Gundaroo community expressed concerns in relation to potential groundwater contamination from on-site effluent disposal occurring too close to domestic bores.

The Department of Planning and Environment subsequently made amendments to the proposals in light of these concerns, requiring larger lot sizes of 5000 sqm if the developments were not connected to reticulated sewerage, so that effluent disposal areas could be adequately offset from domestic bores.

As the land has now been rezoned, the owners are able to submit development applications for subdivision of their land, which must align with the Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and the design standards set out in the council’s adopted Gundaroo Masterplan.

It must be noted that the outcome of any future Gundaroo Sewerage Treatment Plant, while related, is a separate issue.

In the event that a council-owned plant does not eventuate, these landowners can either pursue larger lot sizes or private sewerage systems.

Details of the approval on the NSW Legislation website can be found at legislation.nsw.gov.au/EPIs/2018-76.pdf.