Duffy Krook, of Neutral Bay, Australia, said on Wednesday he paid just under $1 million for the two sections late last year but a restraint-of-trade clause prevented him from proceeding with an existing consent obtained by the Youth Hostel Association in 2005 for a much larger 90-bed, five-star hostel.
Mr Krook is a director of Varina Pty Ltd, which has also applied to put a cinema in the former Roman Catholic church building on Brownston St and invested in several other Wanaka properties.
He has requested the resource consent applications for both projects be processed by the Queenstown Lakes District Council's planning agency, Lakes Environmental, on a non-notified basis, which would not require public hearings.
Mr Krook said he was concerned a handful of Brownston St residents and Lakes Environmental planning staff were resisting his cinema proposal and feared it may proceed to a public hearing after all.
"I have a great love of Wanaka and wouldn't want to create any damage ... I really like it. I probably come here a week a month," he said.
Mr Krook hoped his Upton St neighbours would find his reduced visitor accommodation project more acceptable than the YHA's proposal.
"I would be happier to have town houses next door, too," Mr Krook said.
The Upton St neighbourhood is zoned low density residential, with the Wanaka Lakeview Holiday Park on the southern boundary and residences on the north and west boundaries.
Parker Warburton Team Architects of Dunedin had designed the site so each building looked like a separate dwelling and complied with the zone, he said.
The town houses would have a steel roof and weatherboard and plaster finish.
They would be below the maximum 7m height plane and comply with the recession plane, with one minor exception on the camping ground boundary.
A report by Traffic Design Group engineer Andy Carr addresses Lake Environmental planner Michelle Grinlinton-Hancock's concerns about a shortfall of car parks.
Mr Carr said that normally 12 apartments would require 24 parks but just 20 were planned.
However, some units only had one bedroom, making it unlikely occupants would require two parking spaces, he said.
Some parks were "tandem" - one behind the other - and problems getting out could occur.
However, unit occupants would know each other and if they parked in their allocated spaces tandem parks should be able to operate satisfactorily, he said.
Hostel history
Wanaka Youth Hostel site history:
1961: 24-bed Wanaka youth hostel built on Upton St (later increased to 39 beds).
2005: Youth Hostel Association applies for consent for multi-million, five-star, 90-bed hostel development, attracting 24 submissions in support and 23 against.
2006: QLDC grants resource consent after a notified hearing.
2006: Environment Court dismisses an appeal by neighbour Rob Darby.
2009: YHA buys the Purple Cow backpackers on Brownston St.
2010: Varina Pty Ltd buys Upton St site.
2011: Varina Pty Ltd applies for consent for four town houses, containing 12 units.
