A Dunedin hotel owner, served with an abatement notice by the Dunedin City Council after using long-stay residential units as short-term hotel rooms, plans to bounce back by launching a new two-storeyed 19-room motel.
Gow Properties Limited - headed by director Barry O'Brien, of Mosgiel - has applied for land use consent to build the new motel on a vacant lot at 6 Gordon Rd, Mosgiel, beside the existing Hotel Taieri.
The application would be heard by the council's hearings committee on August 19.
If approved, the new motel would provide nine single, six double, two family units and two units for disabled persons, as well as a laundry and manager's residence, in an "L-shaped" building, council planner Darryl Sycamore said in a report.
The development would also incorporate four existing residential units on an adjoining lot at 47 King St, beside the hotel.
The units had been the subject of an abatement notice issued against Gow Properties in February, after council staff found they were being operated outside their consents, Mr Sycamore's report said.
The residential units had previously been operated as four independent units before being bought by Gow Properties in April 2008 and upgraded for use as part of the Hotel Taieri's accommodation, he said.
Contacted yesterday, council senior planner John Sule said residential units could be leased for longer-term stays, but the four units had been operated by Gow Properties as short-term commercial accommodation.
Instead of being let for longer stays of six or 12 months, the units had been available for one-night stays, he said.
They had reverted to long-term residential units after the abatement notice was issued, and the notice would remain in force until the new motel's land use consent application was decided, he said.
Mr Sycamore's report recommended consent for the development be granted, subject to a list of 17 conditions.
The motel would be 7m high, include 26 car parks and operate between 7am and 10pm, 365 days a year, separately from the hotel but incorporating the four existing units.
The council had the discretion to either grant or decline consent, and impose conditions, for the "unrestricted discretionary activity" in the residential two area, Mr Sycamore said.
The proposal had been notified twice, in November last year, and May this year, after plans for the motel were revised to include the four existing units, he said.
Fifteen submissions were received, including four in support and eight opposed.
Opposition centred on the size of the motel and its impact on the views, shading and property values of neighbours, as well as increased traffic and pressure on parking in the area.
Supporters argued it would provide employment and accommodation closer to Dunedin International Airport, and tidy up the vacant site it would be built on.
Mr O'Brien could not be contacted yesterday.
