Fears about ongoing urban development of Otago Peninsula were highlighted during a resource consent hearing yesterday.
Peninsula residents Alison Charlton and Allan Hamilton applied for resource consent to build a new dwelling on the side of Peggys Hill at 1069 Highcliff Rd and to allow the existing residential activity at 1075 Highcliff Rd as a separately owned site.
An application was also made to cancel the amalgamation covenant which holds the two properties, near Pukehiki, together.
Ms Charlton and Mr Hamilton had lived together on the property for eight years but had since separated and dividing the property would allow them both to continue living there independently.
Commissioners Andrew Noone, Ros Day-Cleavin and Andrew Whiley heard evidence about the application at the hearing yesterday.
Dunedin City Council planner Jeremy Grey recommended the applications be declined because the proposed sites would be below the 15ha minium lot size for land zoned rural.
There was also the potential for the application to set a precedent for the continued development of similar sites, Mr Grey said.
The consultant planner for the applicants, Allan Cubitt, said it was unlikely the application could set a precedent. The proposal would be in keeping with the surrounding development and would actually protect and enhance the natural resources of the site, Mr Cubitt told the hearing.
Opposition to the proposal came from neighbours and other organisations on the peninsula, including the Save The Otago Peninsula group and Larnach Castle. All those opposed were concerned granting consent would set a precedent for other similar plots of rural land on the peninsula to be developed.
Larnach Castle director Norcombe Barker said the part of the castle’s appeal was not just the building but its rural setting.
There had been a slow creep of urbanisation on the peninsula in the past 50 years and if the application was granted it would allow other landowners to develop their land in a similar way, Mr Barker said.
