A two-day hearing began yesterday in Cromwell for a 24-lot subdivision in Bannockburn.
The Central Otago District Council appointed independent commissioners Rosalind Day-Cleavin (chairwoman) and Gary Rae to oversee the hearing.
The D.J. Jones and N.R. Searell Family Trust has applied for consent for the 24-lot subdivision in Terrace St in Bannockburn.
Of the 24 lots, 20 of them would be residential.
The proposal attracted nearly 40 submissions of which more than 80% are opposed to the development.
The development originally started as 35-lot proposal but was withdrawn in 2021 after more than 70 opposing submissions were received. It came back to the council scaled down.
The applicant gave evidence yesterday, much of it technical.
In the application, the trust said proposed residential lot sizes complied with the minimum size set out in the district plan and were consistent with lot sizes in Terrace St and within the centre of Bannockburn.
The dominance of open space would remain and development patterns would be consistent with existing settlement within Bannockburn.
The effects of the proposal on the existing visual amenity would extend beyond the site but were relatively contained. More distant views would be viewed against a vast and complex landscape, making the proposed development difficult to discern and result in adverse effects from negligible to very low.
The development would cover just over 17ha and is immediately west of the Bannockburn Inlet.
Of the 20 lots, 12 were said by submitters to be inside the building-line restriction (BLR).
The BLR was first introduced in 1987 and remains in place. It was put in place so Bannockburn could not be seen from the Cromwell basin.
Submitter Charlie Hughes, who has been a land surveyor in Cromwell for 40 years, said the built form in Bannockburn was a low-density, large lot-size open form of development.
‘‘This is the special and unique character of Bannockburn. If this application was approved the special character of Bannockburn would be compromised and lost forever. It would create a precedent which would benefit the balance land of the applicant,’’ he said.
The BLR allowable limit was no houses in the area, he said.
‘‘There will be 12 buildings partly or wholly within the building-line restriction. This is a gross abuse of the plan policies and rules.’’
Submitter David Olds said the photographs and images shown by the applicant were the absolute best result that could be with large foliage, which would not be like that all year round.
It was overly optimistic picture and not realistic in terms of how it would look, he said. He also spoke out in support of no building within the BLR line.
He said if approved it would lead to much unwanted further development, with a precedent set.
This would benefit the developer, who owned further land nearby.
Central Otago District Council planning consultant Kirstyn Royce recommended consent be granted with conditions in her report to the hearing.
She said the form of the subdivision was consistent with the current and future development pattern and would maintain the character and amenity values of the area. The effects of development within the BLR was assessed as acceptable overall.
More submitters will give evidence today.
