A new suburb in between the Tuggeranong town centre and the Murrumbidgee River is unlikely to go ahead, after a community panel could not make a strong enough case for it.
But it will be up to the incoming ACT government to ultimately decide the fate of the western Greenway site, which was likely to be called Thompson.
Deputy-director general of Environment and Planning Gary Rake said after four meetings of the community panel, the panel is expected to produce a report saying no further studies should be conducted at west Greenway.
That report is yet to be finalised but it is understood the group will urge the next ACT government not to push ahead with urban development on the site.
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"Where the panel essentially landed was they haven't yet seen a compelling case that western Greenway needs to be developed now for urban expansion," Mr Rake said.
"The panel has said growth in Tuggeranong is important, renewal in Tuggeranong is important but a higher priority might be to look at renewal within the town centre boundary first, to also look for opportunities for renewal and new types of urban development elsewhere in the Tuggeranong Valley."
ACT planning minister Mick Gentleman announced the idea to redevelop more than 80 hectares of space between Greenway and the river corridor into the new suburb of Thompson in March.
Thompson would have been the first new suburb in the valley in several decades, but the proposal was widely criticised by environmental and community sporting groups in the area.
"The impact on the Murrumbidgee river corridor was a key issue for the panel with water quality, environmental values and existing sport and recreational uses all being matters that the community valued," said Conservation Council ACT executive director Larry O'Loughlin, who was on the panel.
"The Conservation Council believes that the panel outcomes reflect a range of views including the high value that the community puts on maintaining the environment that makes Canberra the bush capital."
Matthew Frawley of the Save the Murrumbidgee Corridor community group also sat on the panel and said its decision was about "maintaining an open space for the recreation value of that area".
"The environmental concerns were important but there was also a lot of people who were a part of that community panel who were involved in the sporting groups that use that area. The archery club has a full field course that runs through there, the Bicentennial National Trail which horse riders use runs through there," he said.
The proposal was put out to public consultation much earlier than usual under a new model being trialled by the ACT government.
Mr Frawley said some people were "off put by that".
"They felt there wasn't enough information but we had to argue strongly for what we thought was the value of the area and why an urban development wasn't suitable and I was happy to be involved in all of that," he said.
Steve Caldicott of the Tuggeranong Archery Club said the government wasted months investigating the proposed suburb because they "came at it from the back end".
"We hope that future consultation takes place before announcements and people justifying an outcome," Mr Caldicott said.
Mr Rake said involving the community in the planning process from the outset had been "a challenge" but was a "useful model for the future".
"It is a good model for the future but it does require a different mindset and an ability for parties on both sides to be flexible about how that discussion will progress," he said.
The panel is expected to finalise its recommendations for the next ACT government within a few weeks.