Arrowtown's historic 135-year-old St John's Church, believed to be the second-oldest continually used Presbyterian church in New Zealand, is to undergo much-needed restoration and have a new hall added.
According to a resource consent application lodged with Lakes Environmental, the existing 137-year-old adjacent church hall - originally the Millers Flat Church from Malaghan's Rd, near the base of Coronet Peak Rd - is to be relocated within the grounds of St John's.
St John's building committee chairman Bruce Patton said $600,000 had already been secured for the restoration and building project from various sources, including $250,000 from Central Lakes Trust, $150,000 from Community Trust Southland and $100,000 from the Otago-Southland Presbyterian Synod.
The remaining funds would be raised through a public appeal to be launched next month.
Planning for the project had been under way for the past year and, if successful, would provide a 150sq m hall and lounge facility and allow for the old stone church to be restored to its original glory, Mr Patton said.
Apart from some "minor changes", the project to restore the category 11 historic church, move the old wooden hall and build the new lounge facility, had received approval from the Historic Places Trust, he added.
Moving the old wooden hall and building a new one would result in about 27% site coverage after paved areas and footpaths were in place, and would approach the maximum 30% coverage allowed.
It required the agreement of the Arrowtown historic precinct advisory panel, Mr Patton said.
It had been challenging meeting all the conditions of the historic precinct, but the new facility would be used by the wider community and not just church groups, he said.
The building committee had engaged conservation architect Jackie Gillies for the project who, in her conservation report for the resource consent application, described it as "the most eye-catching feature on the initial approach to Arrowtown from the Wakatipu Basin", like the "citadel at the gate".
Although the work on the old stone church was "only repairs", the new building had been designed to fit with the old church and minimise impact upon it, visually and physically, she said.
The new hall would be set at the back and feature simple gable forms, similar to but more modern than those of the old church, Ms Gillies said.
The project also aimed to retain as much of the open space around the existing church as possible to ensure it not only met the site coverage requirements of the Arrowtown historic precinct but also retained the character of the church grounds, she added.
"The hardest thing has been balancing the whole raft of conflicting requirements and what the priorities are and [ensuring] the new building was sympathetic to that and fulfilled the requirements of the church community," Ms Gillies said.
Wakatipu Community Church Presbyterian minister the Rev Geoff Ellery said St John's was an essential part of the historical ethos of Arrowtown.
"We believe the modern hall complex will provide more options for community groups in a town that is continuing to grow."
"No-one underestimates the scale of this undertaking for a very small congregation so we will be looking for support from a wide section of the community," Mr Ellery said.
The old wooden hall at the rear of the church was already used by a range of church and community groups, but was difficult to heat, the plumbing froze in winter, it was now considered to be too small and was inadequate for today's needs, he said.
Mr Patton said there was a congregation of 40 to 50 regulars who attended St John's but it was part of the wider Wakatipu Presbyterian parish.
It had been "challenging" to get agreement when consulting with first the church community, then the Arrowtown historic precinct committee, QLDC and the neighbours, he said. Mr Patton was hoping to have consent for the work on the new hall before Christmas with work starting on the project in the new year.
After receiving the application for the consent on August 28, Lakes Environmental had requested more information.
