Beau Trevathan, who is a former Cromwell community board member, has received notification of an application before the Central Otago District Council (CODC) by Auckland-based developers Newby Holdings Ltd to create 28 rural blocks varying from 2ha to 20.9ha on Maori Point Rd between Cromwell and Tarras.
Lots 1 to 16 would be for viticulture/residential use and Lot 17, which is 20.9 hectares, would have vineyard utility buildings and a future winery cellar door outlet.
The remainder of the lots would primarily be used as viticulture investment blocks.
Mr Trevathan, who owns property on Maori Point Rd next to the land in question, said when he first saw the application he understood how the people of Springvale, near Alexandra, felt when the McArthur Ridge proposal was first mooted.
‘‘It seems pretty far-reaching but this is 2008 and anything is possible,'' he said.
He will not be opposing the development.
The Tarras community has been working hard to attract new people with families to the area, so the school can continue. The roll was the lowest it had been for 40 years despite there being more people than ever living in the district.
‘‘There are no houses available to rent, and the older homes are not being pulled down, they are being lived in, yet there are only 10 children at the school. There are new subdivisions being opened up in the district but the people they attract are not the types of people that have young children. A few grandparents have their grandchildren on the weekends, but that doesn't help the school bus,'' Mr Trevathan said.
The problem was the land values were being pushed away from the families who would increase the population in the community, Mr Trevathan said.
‘‘We have no trouble attracting people. Nature did that for us. This place is seen as a comfortable and enjoyable area to live not only by New Zealanders, but by people from overseas as well.''
People were moving from the west as Queenstown had reached saturation point and Wanaka was not far behind.
‘‘The land the new subdivision is planned for has sat for a long time barely sustaining an existence for anyone in the local community,'' he said.
The council needed to require developers to build small hamlets within large subdivisions for service workers as the increasing cost of petrol would become a real problem.
‘‘Service workers could not afford to live in the areas where they were needed, and with petrol hitting $2 a litre they could not afford to travel,'' Mr Trevathan said.
He is blaming the District Plan for the dilemma Tarras and other small communities are facing.
‘‘The way the District Plan is makes it impossible to create a village for working-class people,'' he said.
