A luxury hotel has been granted consent by a fast-track consenting panel - which notes the decision won’t thrill neighbours.
Planned by Queenstown Hotel (NZ) Ltd - Trojan Holdings Ltd and Katdan Hotels New Zealand - the Man St hotel, to be build on top of the existing Man St carpark, will accommodate up to 173 guest rooms and ancillary activities.
The application was made under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-Track Consenting) Act 2020.
But the height of the six-storey hotel - proposed to range from 16.75 metres at the eastern end to 24 metres at the western end - has riled neighbouring property owners.
In their final decision, released today, panel chair Phil Page and members Hoani Langsbury and Rachel Dimery said having visited the site, and viewed it from the perspective of landowners to the north, who were ‘‘firmly opposed’’ to the proposal, ‘‘we can understand why’’.
While any permitted building, build to the proposed district plan height limit, would block some existing views, the panel set those effects aside ‘‘as being within the permitted baseline’’.
‘‘The breach of height limits is nevertheless substantial,’’ their decision says.
‘‘We have no hesitation in finding that the non-complying height of the buildings will block views to the south when viewed from the north side of Man St.
‘‘Those adverse effects are more than minor.’’
The panel has also been mindful of what it calls ‘‘the domino effect’’.
‘‘If the landowner in front builds above the height limit and blocks your view, then each landowner in turn can be expected to seek the same treatment to recover the views lost.
‘‘And if that happens, then building height rules will lack any utility or integrity.
‘‘That issue has weighed heavily in our thinking.’’
While the applicant has amended the roof form of the building, the overall height is unchanged, other than within the western viewshaft, where the height has been reduced, the decision says.
But, the panel says relying on conditions it’s imposed, ‘‘we are satisfied that consent can be granted, despite the concerns about the effects of the building height on cultural values, raised by Aukaha’’.
‘‘We have no doubt that the neighbours on the north side of Man St will be disappointed by our decision.
‘‘All we can say about that is the objectives and policies of the Town Centre zone do provide a consenting pathway and the policies that guide that process are firmly focussed on the public realm.
‘‘If there was a better explanation for the PDP’s western viewshaft by reference to an ‘identified landscape feature’ then we might have found differently.’’
Included in the conditions imposed is the requirement for 24/7 access to a public viewing platform, and daytime public access to a ‘‘green roof area’’ in the western viewshaft - which could be provided by a bridge linking the two areas.
‘‘It is for the applicant to decide whether to give effect to the consent on that basis.’’
While the panel’s unconvinced Queenstown’s need for another hotel has ‘‘very much to do with the economic and social impact’’ of Covid, its economic assessment predicated significant positive economic effects on the district’s long-term tourism potential, and the panel had ‘‘no evidence to the contrary’’.
