Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council is inviting comment into the concept designs for a new Memorial Garden. The Memorial Garden is being planned on a property at the corner of Old Cooma Road and Burra Road, just outside the Googong Township area.
'This Memorial Garden is a cemetery that is being designed as a landscaped park that will be suitable for reflection and commemoration of loved ones and also provide opportunities for passive recreation,' said General Manager Rebecca Ryan.
'We have been planning for a new memorial garden for many years; this is becoming particularly important as the cemetery on Lanyon Drive is nearly full.'
'The new Memorial Garden will be able to have more than 18,000 interments, which will provide the burial and interment needs for Queanbeyan, Googong, Jerrabomberra and surrounds for the next 100 years.'
'The new concept designs have responded to community feedback that we've received over the last few years as we've gone through a planning proposal. This includes moving the main entry to be off Burra Road and a natural/rural aesthetic to the entire site, with a focus on native plantings.'
'The concept design is still preliminary, and we're really interested in hearing from the community so that we can make the Memorial Garden the most welcoming space it can be before a final design is included in a development application.'
Manager Urban Landscapes, Tim Geyer, provided some of the background as to how Council has got to this point.
'The property where we are planning the Memorial Garden was bought in 2017. We went through a planning proposal process to rezone the site to be suitable for a cemetery with consent,' said Tim.
'The planning proposal included detailed site studies on geotechnical, transport impact, flora and fauna, Aboriginal due diligence, heritage, noise, social impact, hydrology and more.'
'Cemeteries that have over 5,000 interments are considered state significant developments, because they are considered as vital social infrastructure. This means that the development application will be assessed by the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.'
'The state significant development requires further studies to make sure that this will be a suitable and sustainable development and these studies are currently underway.'
'The project will include preserving and improving Church Creek which runs through the site and ensure that any burials will be outside the flood zone. We are also working with Registered Aboriginal parties to ensure that the final design reflects a connection to country.'
'There has been some concern from nearby residents about groundwater. The hydrological engineers have reviewed the design and buffers have been designed to protect ground water bores, with additional natural and engineering solutions to carefully manage ground and surface water passing through the site.'
The concept designs and further information will be available for comment on Council's Your Voice website at https://yourvoice.qprc.nsw.gov.au/memorial-garden until 10 November.
Council will also be holding a community drop-in session at the Googong Sales Centre from 5.30-7.30pm on Thursday 12 October, at the Googong Community Centre from 1-3pm on Wednesday 18 October, and an online community information session from 12pm on 25 October.
