Stoney Creek Village Ltd, which wants to build and operate an 85-unit multi-level "lifestyle" village for residents aged over 55 in the Wanaka suburb of Meadowstone, has not paid an outstanding invoice, estimated at thousands of dollars, to the Queenstown Lakes District Council planning and regulatory company.
Lakes Environmental has been waiting for more than six months to settle Stoney Creek's account, after a resource consent hearing was held in Wanaka in December last year.
Lakes Environmental CEO Hamish Dobbie said discussions between his staff and the developers continued after Stoney Creek disputed the consent processing fees charged. He would not comment about how much money was owed.
Debt collectors would not be engaged, he said.
Lakes Environmental planning manager Brian Fitzpatrick said six months was not the longest period for which a developer had owed money to the planning authority.
" ...but we've generally been successful in recovering our costs," he said.
Lakes Environmental will not release a decision, informing Stoney Creek Village whether the proposal is successful, until the money is paid.
The issue continues to frustrate neighbours of the proposed lifestyle village, who formed a protest group "Sensible Development for Wanaka" against the development.
The group contends the retirement village is little more than a multi-level block of apartments aimed at a wealthy older market, which is at odds with the residential community of the Meadowstone neighbourhood.
The Resource Management Act provided for a consent decision to be withheld where fixed fees had not been paid, Mr Dobbie said.
Stoney Creek Village has two Auckland-based directors, Allen Patrick Peters and Steven Shane Thomas.
Two former directors Tony Hannon and Chris Holmes are no longer listed as directors with Stoney Creek. Mr Hannon told the Otago Daily Times he decided three months ago to move on to "other projects".
