Council to make decisions on district plan proposals

LONGAWAITED decisions on visitor accommodation rules and rural zoning in the Queenstown Lakes district will be made by councillors at their full meeting tomorrow.

They will be asked to approve commissioners’ recommendations on the second stage of the proposed district plan.

Notified in November 2017, stage two attracted more than 750 submissions on visitor accommodation, Wakatipu Basin land use, transport, earthworks, signage, and open space and recreation.

Planning policy manager Ian Bayliss said a panel of independent commissioners reviewed the submissions and held public hearings between July and November last year, before making the recommendations.

Most were consistent with council evidence, but extensive changes were recommended for the notified rules for visitor accommodation.

Council officers had proposed ‘‘farreaching changes’’ to visitor accommodation rules, aimed at maintaining housing supply in residential zones, character and amenity and addressing the growth of shortterm letting activity, Mr Bayliss said.

‘‘The panel did not feel there was enough evidence that shortterm letting activities were affecting affordability, or the supply of residential housing, to justify the changes being proposed.’’

Instead, the panel had recommended rules to provide a ‘‘more consistent approach’’ to regulating the activity, and more emphasis on monitoring and enforcement.

Recommendations about rural parts of the Wakatipu Basin and Crown Terrace had also been been longanticipated, he said.

Large parts of the area identified in the notified provisions as a lifestyle precinct had been ‘‘downzoned’’ to a rural amenity zone, which prevented further subdivision.

If the recommendations are adopted, they will be formally notified as decisions, initiating the appeals process.