A planner recommends a resource consent application to subdivide a 21ha lot on the slopes of Bendemeer Hill, east of Lake Hayes, into four allotments be refused.
Bendemeer Estates Ltd wants to create four allotments - three for residential purposes and one access lot - with residential platforms proposed on each of the three residential lots. The building platforms would range in size from 584sq m to 1000sq m on lots ranging from 1.462ha to 4.968ha.
A remaining lot of 2.191ha would be an access lot containing an existing access track to nearby properties.
The site wraps around the western slopes of Bendemeer Hill and sits on the slopes above Lake Hayes and below the Bendemeer Special Zone.
As part of the application to subdivide and provide for residential development, a range of design controls is proposed for each platform to control building design, location, materials, colours, fencing and lighting.
Five submissions on the proposal were received, notified on February 6 - two in opposition and three in support with conditions.
Mr and Mrs Guillot and Mr and Mrs Gurnsey, both couples living on Lake Hayes-Arrowtown Rd, oppose the proposal because they believe it would have an adverse effect on their properties.
Their concerns included adverse effects of the proposal on landscape character, amenity and visual values; and not meeting relevant assessment matters, policies and objectives of the Partially Operative District Plan, or the purpose of the Resource Management Act.
Lakes Environmental planner Paula Costello said in her report the site was considered sensitive and vulnerable to degradation and, given its setting on the slopes above Lake Hayes, the proposal to create building platforms on a site known for its "pastoral character" would "result in over-domestication of the landscape".
Further, Ms Costello said the proposal was contrary to the policies and objectives of the Partially Operative District Plan and did not align with the purpose and principles of the RMA.
"In particular, the proposed activity as it currently stands is not considered to adequately avoid adverse effects or maintain amenity values, considering the landscape values of the site and its location within the existing environment."
A resource consent hearing on the proposal will be held in Queenstown on August 26.
• The parties behind the Bendemeer Estates plan:
- Bendemeer Estates Ltd directors: Mark Taylor, appointed May 28, 2002; Graeme Todd, appointed June 6, 2006. - Total number of shares: 10 (Mark Taylor 5, Fownhope Company Ltd 5).
- Fownhope Company Ltd directors: Graeme Todd; Helen Wilding; Julia Wilding, all appointed June 6, 2006. - Total number of shares: 100 - All held by Southern Trustees Ltd
- Southern Trustees Ltd directors: Richard Cunliffe, appointed February 1, 2007; Andrew Jack, appointed February 1, 2002; Dale Lloyd, appointed November 1, 2006; Jayne Macdonald, appointed October 20, 2003; Clark Pirie, appointed May 1, 2005; Graeme Todd, appointed April 19, 1999; John Troon, appointed April 19, 1999. - Total number of shares: 120 (Graeme Todd 20, John Troon 20, Jack Andrew 20, Jayne Macdonald 20, Clark Pirie 20, Dale Lloyd 20.
