What’s happening with proposed $200m housing estate

Two and a half years on, a $200 million housing development that could support up to 1000 new lots remains under assessment by Toowoomba Regional Council.

Layout images for Habitat Mt Kynoch.

A $200 million housing development that could support up to 1000 new lots remains under assessment by Toowoomba Regional Council more two and a half years after it was first proposed.

The massive Habitat Mt Kynoch housing estate, proposed on land owned by Clive Berghofer to the north-west of Mt Kynoch water treatment facility, has the potential to become a new suburb in its own right.

But the project has been delayed.

Toowoomba Regional Council threw a spanner in the works early on when they pointed out they could require part of the development's land for an expansion of the water treatment facility.

In May 2019 the council said its waste and water department had engaged an external consultant to help with determining the requirements of a future water treatment plant at Mt Kynoch.

A Cardno report commissioned by Toowoomba Regional Council investigating the current and potential future buffer requirements for the Mt Kynoch water treatment plant was lodged in November 2019.

The report recommended a 250m buffer between the plant, both in its current and expanded/new form, from sensitive receptors.

The council's most recent information request relates to infrastructure planning, engineering of earthworks, stormwater management, and traffic, and parkland provision.