QLDC urged to give approval to special housing area

QUEENSTOWN Lakes District councillors will be asked to give their final blessing to a proposed 400lot special housing area (SHA) on the outskirts of Lake Hawea when they meet in Wanaka on Thursday.

A report prepared by council planning practice manager Blair Devlin suggests the council recommend the creation of the SHA to the Associate Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Jenny Salesa.

Mr Devlin will present the council with the ‘‘draft deed of agreement’’ negotiated with developer Lane Hocking, of Universal Developments, which includes some conditions.

One is that houses be limited to two storeys and 8m and a minimum 30 dwellings be built.

Another is that water supply and wastewater scheme boundaries be extended to allow the proposed development to be serviced.

Mr Devlin is recommending the draft deed be considered by the council with the public excluded, on the grounds withholding the information is necessary to enable the council to continue with commercial negotiations.

The development has met with considerable opposition in the Lake Hawea township from residents who believe more development is not required.

The original SHA was for 1000 sections, but in the face of public opposition, Mr Hocking reduced the number to 400.

The council’s background document notes the development would include a community hub, reserves and roads to be vested in the council.

The council approved the SHA in principle in June 2017, with eight councillors voting in favour and three — deputy mayor Calum MacLeod, Wanaka Community Board chairman Quentin Smith and Arrowtown ward member Scott Stevens — voting against it.

Mr Devlin notes that ‘‘unlike other SHA proposals’’ the Hawea proposal contains fixed prices for house and land packages of between $464,000 and $550,000.

And, he said, in an effort to avoid speculation, while ‘‘recognising there are limits to what can be achieved through a stakeholder deed’’, clauses had been included limiting the number of sales to individuals and restricting the onselling of bare sections within five years of purchase.