David Maxwell is taking his dream of building Canberra’s most sustainable suburb beyond the ACT’s final frontier.
The Riverview Group principal has a proposal, four years in the making, for a joint venture with the ACT Government to build up to 4500 homes in the ACT, outside of West Belconnen.
But to fully develop his land in the territory, Mr Maxwell will have to shift the mandatory ”hills, ridges and buffers” zone on the ACT side of the border across on to land owned by Riverview in NSW.
The deal would see the ACT Government become the freehold owner of 330ha of NSW land and create our first true cross-border suburb.
Now Mr Maxwell is hoping that he has made a good enough case on environmental and affordability grounds to secure the approval of the range of governments and agencies who need to sign off on the plan.
The deal would not need a realignment of the territory’s borders but would need to be ticked off by the ACT’s planning body ACTPLA, the National Capital Authority and Yass Valley Shire Council.
Riverview is controlled by the Corkhill family.
The Corkhill family has been farming land around Canberra since the 1880s and Mr Maxwell says that with the land in family ownership, low holding costs would enable him to offer blocks at prices from less than $200,000.
The developer, who plans to release 400 blocks a year between 2012 and 2021, believes that the long lead times will allow Riverview to achieve new standards for green housing in Canberra.
Mr Maxwell told The Canberra Times that $15,000 was to be set aside for each housing block to pay for environmentally friendly fit-out and design.
Mr Maxwell said that more than 340ha of Murrimbidgee River corridor land would be maintained and managed by a dedicated trust as a conservation, bushfire protection and recreation area.
The developer says that he has the time and he has the land to put together a housing development of international significance.
”The scale of the project means that you have the size and the timeframes to plan properly and allow for innovative sustainable development,” Mr Maxwell said.
”We can do things that other developments can’t and we are serious about creating a sustainable community of international significance in the nation’s capital.”
But for now, the ball is firmly in the court of the ACT Government, which is considering its response to Mr Maxwell’s joint venture proposal.
”We have had no indication from the [ACT] Government as to what they are thinking,” the Riverview Group said.
