The Arrowtown Village Association and a handful of residents spoke out in support of proposed Arrowtown boundary plan changes at yesterday's Queenstown District Lakes Council strategy committee meeting.
Association chairwoman Ange van der Laan said it last week moved to support the decisions of commissioners and the QLDC to adopt plan changes 29 and 30 - which together establish a town boundary to restrict development - and to reject the extension of the boundary as proposed in plan change 39.
"I'm delighted that the AVA committee has accepted this motion as I believe it better reflects the views of AVA members and the community at large," she said.
"I'm excited that we can act cohesively as an organisation on this issue as it is imperative that the community throws its full weight behind the council so that it defends its decision vigorously."
Other submitters in support of the council included former Arrowtown councillor John R Wilson and resident Peter Roberts.
In the plan-change update, the committee resolved to employ expert landscape and heritage witnesses to present evidence to defend the council's decisions in a pre-hearing conference on the plan changes, to be held on February 7.
Councillor Lex Perkins said Arrowtown had its own specific identity that should be protected, and more room for development was not needed.
"Documents clearly show there are roughly 200 building sites available inside the Arrowtown boundary, and to me that shows there is sufficient room for growth there until 2020 and then beyond that."
The committee also decided that appeals seeking wording amendments in the urban boundaries plan change (PC30) could potentially be resolved through negotiation outside of court.
When approached by the Queenstown Times, Arrowtown resident Donald Spary said he respected the democratic process of the AVA but, were it not for previous expansion such as the Adamson development in West Arrowtown, the town would not exist as it did today.
"If people wish to say they don't want any more development, that's perfectly fine.
I take the opposite view - you can't stand still; you either faint or go backwards," Mr Spary said.
"You can't freeze a place in time."
