Trust asks how luxury lodge would be funded

A group of residents fighting a luxury lodge proposed for Queenstown’s Bobs Cove had expected to be on the same side as the Queenstown Lakes District Council, their lawyer has said.

Instead, the 14 members of the Bobs Cove Punatapu Community Trust found themselves "having to stand in the shoes of the council", trust lawyer Graeme Todd said.

Mr Todd told an Environment Court hearing in Queenstown yesterday the residents were not only bearing the financial cost of defending the council’s original decision to decline the proposal, but having to respond to the council’s arguments in favour of it.

Sydney businessman Andrew McIntosh applied for consent in 2021 to build the 24-unit lodge in the scenic bay, which is only a short drive from central Queenstown.

When council-appointed commissioners turned down the proposal in 2022, his company, Waimarino Queenstown Ltd, appealed to the court.

Mr Todd said the council’s decision not to defend the commissioners’ decision was clearly made for "political reasons", because they made the decision before taking any advice.

Judge Prudence Steven agreed, saying it was an "unusual position" for the council to take.

Mr McIntosh appeared to be "desperate" to get consent, Mr Todd said.

He had repeatedly responded to objections to the proposal by removing some of its elements, including four of 24 villas, a guest house and a storage shed.

"It’s a very desirable location for a lodge, so I can understand why Mr McIntosh wants this consent because its value would be extremely high."

Another element removed was the subdivision of the site to allow some of the villas to be sold on freehold titles.

Now the applicant could no longer raise capital from selling villas, it raised the question of how he would fund the development.

"How realistic this [proposal] is, we’re not sure.

"Andrew McIntosh says he’s not a property developer, so we don’t know who’s going to develop this."

Mr Todd said the trust agreed the revisions to the application had reduced the scale of the development, but maintained its position its overall effects on the environment would be more than minor, and contrary to the district plan.

One effect the applicant had not considered was the activity of people, vehicles and "general busyness" arising from visitor accommodation in the bay, which was out of character for its rural-residential zoning.

Waimarino Queenstown counsel Bal Matheson said Mr McIntosh did want to develop the lodge, and had spent "millions" getting the proposal this far.

He had been striving since 2019 to "find something workable and consentable, and something that works on the site".