258 submissions on planning maps
QUEENSTOWN mapping will come under the microscope over the next five weeks during proposed district plan hearings.
The hearings before chairman Denis Nugent and three commissioners are scheduled to begin in the resort today and run until September 7.
Opening legal submissions from Sarah Scott, of Simpson Grierson, on behalf of the Queenstown Lakes District Coun cil, said the hearing concerned submissions on planning map annotations, for example, landscape lines and zone boundaries in Wakatipu, for land which had been notified in stage one of the plan.
A total of 258 submissions were received on the rezoning matters.
They included Skyline Enterprises Ltd which sought to establish a new commercial tourism and recreation subzone, which would encompass its facilities on Bobs Peak.
Under the proposed district plan the land was zoned rural, was an outstanding natural landscape within two designated recreation reserves and within the Ben Lomond and Queenstown Hill Reserve management plan.
‘‘Of note, and in addition to two jurisdictional issues, council remains of the view that Skyline have not provided sufficient information or assessment on the [proposed zone] to support the relief it seeks,’’ Ms Scott’s submission said.
‘‘This means that the council (and submitters) have not been able to examine the potential effects of the proposal as it is unclear what level and nature of further development Skyline proposes within the Ben Lomond reserve, what level of increased patronage and built development the [proposed zone] might deliver, what effects this future development is expected to have, and how these effects are proposed to be avoided, remedied or mitigated.’’
Ms Scott’s submission said rebuttal evidence for Ziptrek observed the scale of the proposed zone was ‘‘considerably larger’’ than the gondola upgrade for which Skyline had sought resource consent. That was a $100 millionplus redevelopment, directly referred to the Environment Court.
The effect of the proposed amended boundaries would be to include all of an area Skyline seeks to lease for a new car park; all of the AJ Hackett Bungy lease area, the Ziptrek top tree house platform, and all of the existing access track within the reserve used to access the top luge chairlift terminal, her submission said
Queenstown Park Ltd also made a submission.
It wants a new Queenstown Park special zone, including a gondola corridor which would extend from the operative district plan Remarkables Park zone in Frankton, along the Kawarau River, then up to the Remarkables skifield.
However, Ms Scott said planner Robert Buxton recommended that submission be rejected, primarily due to the ‘‘significant adverse landscape effects’’ the proposed rezoning would have.
This week’s hearings, at the Mercure Hotel, will be taken up with the council’s opening submissions. Public submissions will begin next week at the Copthorne Hotel.
tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz