The application was put on hold on November 30 last year, at the request of the applicant, after a council planner requested more information on environmental management plans, earthworks, removal of vegetation, site fencing, urban design and other matters.
Queenstown Lakes District Council planning documents published this week show McDonald’s have now provided council planners with the requested information, including a landscape assessment report detailing how the future build would fit in with the receiving environment.
The report concludes that although the proposal would "not meet the relevant landscape objectives and policies for the rural character landscape" upon which the site is based, it would nevertheless have a "very low to low degree" of impact on the area’s character when contextualised within the wider Mt Iron Junction development.
"Although frequently viewed from a busy transit corridor, the proposal will not be overly prominent due to it being well screened by evergreen trees that partly reflect the amenity anticipated within a rural character landscape, in addition to its dark recessive cladding and its context within a peri-urban environment", the report reads.
"When seen from Mt Iron, it will have a very low to low degree of adverse effects on visual amenity."
The documents indicate McDonald’s will also be lodging a consent application with the Otago Regional Council.
A spokesperson for the QLDC confirmed the application would likely be picked up in the next two weeks.
Once notified, members of the public will be invited to make submissions to the council outlining their thoughts or concerns about the project.
The announcement late last year that Wānaka could be getting a McDonald’s proved to be a divisive one.
An online petition calling for the fast food chain’s plans to be scrapped has received more than 5300 signatures, which the creator intends to present to the QLDC.
