Great Lakes Council has begun the preparation of a Local Environment Study (LES) for the project which will see the development of a $65 million five-star golf resort and boutique brewery on 90 acres at the Bulahdelah Golf Club.

The developer, Brewery Australia, bought the land from the club earlier this year.

Planning director Glenn Handford said that areas to be studied as part of the LES included: the integration of the development with the surrounding area, including Alum Mountain which had local heritage significance, its socio-economic impact on Bulahdelah, internal traffic, tree clearing, the provision of water and sewerage and the disposal of stormwater.

He said the preparation of the LES would take about nine months and would then go on public exhibition.

Following consideration of any public submissions, a Local Environment Plan would be prepared and be put on exhibition for further comment. Once any submissions had been considered a Development Control Plan would then be sent to the State Government for gazettal.

"It is a major project and the whole process could take as long as two years," Mr Handford said.

Once the project has gone through the extensive approval process it is expected to take a further two years to complete.

The brewery, which will produce about 10,000 litres or 30,000 bottles a day, primarily for export markets in the United States, Canada and South East Asia, including China, will be the first stage to be completed at a cost of $3 million.

It will be followed by an 18-hole golf course to cost about $5 million.

A four storey building containing 206 rooms and a separate three storey building housing 100 strata units to be zoned as serviced apartments will be built at a cost of $57 million.

The resort will include bars and a variety of budget and a la carte restaurants, swimming pools and gymnasiums, a conference room and function centre, a chapel, a theme park and petting zoo. The project is expected to provide employment for as many as 164 people across all areas of the hotel and brewery.