The Queenstown Lakes District Council should approve a private plan change which could result in 215 homes being built on 17.7ha of bare land at Arrowtown, QLDC senior policy analyst Karen Page says.
The Arrowtown South private plan change, lodged with the council in September, seeks to rezone 30ha of rural land to a new residential Arrowtown South special zone.
The proposed site would be bounded by Centennial Ave, McDonnell Rd, the Arrowtown Golf Course and the southern boundary of the Arrowtown low density residential zone.
The plan change, proposed by eight landowners, would provide for up to 215 houses on the site, with 12ha used for publicly accessible open space and a 1ha "community hub" featuring a village store, child-care centre and other facilities.
The plan change will be discussed at the council's strategy committee meeting next month.
Ms Page is recommending the committee recommend to the full council that plan change 39 be accepted.
The application had been reviewed internally and the council was now in a position to determine how it would deal with the plan change.
Ms Page said the applicant had consulted 14 interested or affected parties, including the Arrowtown Golf Club, the Arrowtown Village Association, Arrowtown Primary School, Community Preschool and Montessori, Arrowtown residents (via a mailbox drop) and the Arrowtown Advisory Committee.
The council had four options, but rejecting it was not one.
It was not considered the proposal triggered any of the tests for rejection and therefore had to be considered under the remaining three options - to accept it, adopt it or treat it as a resource consent, Ms Page said.
If the council did decide to reject the plan change, it was likely to be appealed in the Environment Court, therefore, the council would incur the appeal costs.
It was not appropriate to treat it as a resource consent because it involved "a new special zone and a whole new set of rules".
If the council were to adopt the plan change it would be agreeing to take over the application as a council plan change, she said.
"In doing so it acknowledges at this early stage that the plan change is appropriate and would subsequently incur the full cost of processing the application.
"These costs have not been budgeted in the current financial year.
"Further to this, while Plan Change 29 [Arrowtown Boundary] is not very advanced, due to the inconsistencies between these two plan changes, it would be inappropriate for [the] council to adopt a private plan change that was not in line with a council-initiated plan change."
The only remaining option for the council was to accept the plan change, she said.
"In accepting a plan change the council does not necessarily have to agree with the contents of the plan change request, or the actual merits of the proposal.
"Provided that the plan change has no grounds for rejection as set out in the Act, the council must accept a private plan change to allow the public to consider its merits."
Ms Page said when the plan change was notified, the council could make a submission and it would not incur any costs through accepting thechange.
The applicant would incur the full cost of the plan change, including any council time spent processing the application, she said.
The strategy committee will consider Ms Page's recommendation on Tuesday.
