Discussions are also continuing with building companies, with the hope building can start as soon as a construction certificate is issued by Edward River Council.
An application for the certificate was submitted to council last week.
The iconic hotel at Conargo was destroyed by fire on November 11, 2014 with only the front facade left standing.
The rebuild is being pursued by two sets of brothers — Charlie and Bobby White who purchased the hotel’s land and liquor licence in 2015, and Michael and Paul Lodge whose father Neville Lodge owned the hotel from 1956 to 1980.
Michael said the soil remediation is required because there was some fuel contamination discovered, possibly as a result of the fire.
He said while he could not commit to a specific timeframe for the construction, his intention is to have it finished sooner rather than later.
‘‘We’ve had development application approval for a while and now we’ve made the application for the construction certificate,’’ he said.
‘‘We hope that will be a speedy process.
‘‘We have three years to complete the build, but I hope to have it done within 12 months of getting the construction certificate.’’
The Conargo Hotel has a long history, and was originally built as the Conargo Billabong Hotel.
In March 1867 it was licensed to David Rogers, the son-in-law of William McKenzie who started the village’s first hotel, the Conargo Inn, in 1858.
The two hotels were situated about 100m apart.
In February 1917 the Licensing Board considered Conargo too small to sustain two licences.
Rogers owned both buildings at the time and chose to keep the Billabong because it was in a better state of repair than the original Conargo Inn.
In 1868 the Billabong Hotel was leased to Robert Pyke, but in 1885 reverted back to Rogers.
It has had many owners since then.
Plans submitted to council for the development application process show the pub will have a lounge area, function room and bar area.
‘‘We’d like it to be similar to how it was before the fire,’’ Michael said.
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