Developers hope to keep families together
CLYDE
CLYDE could be home to a new $200 million retirement village if plans are approved by the Central Otago District Council.
Patrick Houlahan and Mark Laing are owners of about 12ha of adjoining land on the corner of State Highway 8 and Sunderland St.
They are proposing a development comprising 164 retirement homes, an 80bed dementia care unit and a subdivision of 36 sections.
Mr Houlahan said one of the aims was finding a solution to avoid separating families.
‘‘We are sick to death of hearing the stories of people’s parents who are having to be shifted down to Invercargill, Oamaru, or Dunedin.’’
He had experienced this in his own family.
‘‘I’ve got a mother in a home up in Geraldine, and all the family are just so far away from her.’’
The coowners would make an application to the council on Thursday for a plan change from rural to residential.
If this first stage was approved, the project could bring about $200 million of development to Clyde, creating jobs as well as providing a much needed retirement solution, Mr Houlahan said.
‘‘The community needs this.’’ Paterson Pitts Group senior planner Peter Dymock, of Alexandra, was working on the project and said the proposed development was a golden opportunity.
The project was planned to be a joint venture with HPA Group who developed the Golden View Lifestyle Village in Cromwell, which had a waiting list of about 100, he said.
Having a retirement village plus a dementia care unit across the road from Dunstan Hospital meant there could not be a better site for the project.
‘‘This is the most realistic option on the horizon for something the community has been crying out for,’’ Mr Dymock said.