Zoning is the main obstacle to a retirement village proceeding at Clyde.
Clyde Claim Ltd plans a retirement facility on 6.1ha of land it owns on the outskirts of the town but the project hinged on a zone change, developer Mark Laing said yesterday.
Clyde Claim has already completed a retail complex in the centre of the town, which included several shops, a restaurant and a cinema.
In a separate venture, a charitable trust announced plans this week for a retirement lifestyle village in Alexandra, run by the community-owned trust, which would put profits back into the facilities.
The trust is holding a meeting in Alexandra next month to gauge support for the project.
Mr Laing yesterday said the rezoning of his Clyde land was the current ''sticking point'' for that town's retirement village proposal.
''It all depends on that, on what the [Central Otago District Council] decides to do with the zoning.''
Last month, seven real estate firms with offices in Alexandra joined forces to support Clyde Claim's request for its land to be zoned residential.
In a submission to the council district plan review discussion document, the firms said Clyde was close to being fully developed within its current residential zoning.
The only area potentially available for Clyde's continued urban expansion was the land owned by Clyde Claim, next to Sunderland St and Mutton Town Rd.
The land was zoned rural residential but could be rezoned residential, making provision for any residential development of the site to include a private sewerage scheme, capable of being connected to any future council sewerage scheme, the real estate agents said.
They were all marketing properties for elderly people who had been forced to move to other locations outside Central Otago to find suitable retirement facilities, the agents said in the submission.
This had gone on for some time and indicated facilities in the area were overstretched and not catering for the ageing population.
Clyde Claim made a similar submission and said it disagreed with the council stating, in the document, Clyde could not expand beyond its present urban boundary until reticulated wastewater disposal was available to replace septic tanks.
The council plans to investigate a wastewater treatment plant for the town, to be completed in the next decade.
• A meeting to gauge interest and support for a retirement village at Alexandra will be held next month, at the Cellar Door on May 21, not tonight as published yesterday.
The error occurred during the editing process.
