Plan for apartments above inlet

A TWOLOT subdivision in Lowburn has been approved by the Central Otago District Council, paving the way for luxury accommodation.

John Olssen, of Cromwell, has applied to split a 3995sq m block in Lowburn Valley Rd into 1325sq m and 2670sq m sections.

The decision to approve the consent was announced by the council earlier this month, following a council hearing in March.

The land is on the corner of State Highway 6 and Lowburn Valley Rd.

Mr Olssen said he and his wife proposed to build luxury apartments in one section and their own house on the other. He said there was a shortage of luxury accommodation in Central Otago outside Queenstown and Wanaka.

He had not decided how many apartments would be built.

In his proposal, Mr Olssen said the buildings would be 10m to 15m from the road and State Highway 6 and 80m from Lowburn inlet on Lake Dunstan.

Previous consents had been approved for the land, the Central Otago district plan already zoned the area as travellers accommodation.

A report for the hearings panel by council planning consultant David Whitney says consent was granted in 2006 for a restaurant/cafe, bar/lounge, retail outlets and a manager’s apartment but that consent lapsed.

The land is beside Cromwell Escape, an accommodation complex that opened in January 2017.

Mr Olssen originally proposed a walkway from the subdivision to the Lowburn inlet but the NZ Transport Agency said in a submission on the proposal the walkway should be removed.

Mr Olssen complied with that request at the hearing.

The panel was told the Olssens planned to finish building their house first, a job scheduled to end at the end of the year, and then look at developing the apartments.

‘‘In the interim, we may seek expressions of interest for an experienced operator who will operate the facility,’’ he said.