Mitre 10 Mega has received agreement from the Queenstown Lakes District Council to have its resource consent application heard in the Environment Court, a first for the Lakes District.
At a pre-hearing conference in the Environment Court before Judge Jon Jackson in Queenstown yesterday, lawyer Graeme Todd said his client, Crossroads Properties Ltd, would be filing the application to the Environment Court early next month.
The company applied for resource consent in November for a $20 million store at a site in Shotover Park, near the existing Glenda Dr industrial zone.
The site was next to where Foodstuffs (South Island) had applied for a $30 million Pak'n Save supermarket, consent for which was declined in October, a decision subsequently appealed to the Environment Court.
Mr Todd told Judge Jackson his client had applied to the council to have the consent hearing referred directly to the Environment Court, rather than being heard by the council, which had been accepted.
He asked for the Mitre 10 Mega application and the hearing for Foodstuffs to be heard at the same time.
However, Foodstuffs counsel Annabel Ritchie said the outcome of a two-week hearing into the Queenstown Lakes District Council's proposed Plan Change 19: Frankton Flats Zones (B), would be "fundamental" to her client's application. That hearing begins in Queenstown on Monday.
Plan Change 19 seeks provide for the comprehensive rezoning of the Frankton Flats area to allow educational, residential, visitor accommodation, commercial, industrial, business and recreational activities.
"Frankton Flats plan change is seeking to rezone the Frankton Flats from rural general to mixed use ... the allocation of those activities is particularly fundamental to what can happen on that site," Ms Ritchie said.
"One of the primary reasons for declining Pak'n Save was the uncertainty regarding activity areas and where activities would be allocated on the Frankton Flats.
"We think that the decision of the court ... is quite fundamental in terms of where those activities can be allocated and therefore it's fundamental to the Pak'n Save application. This is quite a complex matter in terms of where retail is to be located."
Council counsel Tanya Surrey said the council would prefer the PC19 decision to be released before the Mitre 10 resource consent hearing and Foodstuffs appeal were heard.
Judge Jackson said the court had taken the position if someone applied for a resource consent, they were entitled to have it heard within the planning rules which applied at the date of the hearing.
Jayne Macdonald, also on behalf of the council, said there was a concern if the resource consent application was heard before a PC19 decision was released there was "a real degree of pre-emption".
"The applications of Pak'n Save and Mitre 10 Mega have some fundamental links with the structure plan that is going to come out of PC19, and in particularly retail. There's a concern that we don't want to pre-empt the potential outcome of that plan change.
However, Judge Jackson said he was not convinced there was a need to wait before hearing the Mitre 10 application and Pak'n Save appeal.
Mr Todd said four submissions had been received on the Mitre 10 Mega application.
Foodstuffs (South Island) and Shotover Park Ltd were both in support, while Queenstown Central and St Asaph Investments 2011 Ltd were in opposition.
His clients had been concerned the opposing submissions may have been motivated by "trade competition".
In setting a hearing date of May 21, Judge Jackson said nothing Ms Surrey or Ms Taylor said "suggests I should have to hang around for this".
"The spectre of trade competition has been raised ... The best disinfectant for trade competition is an early hearing."
