1000 new sections for Hawea

Two Special Housing Areas have been proposed for Wanaka and Lake Hawea, potentially adding 1281 more sections to the Upper Clutha district’s land bank.

The biggest development – 1000 sections – is by Universal Developments and is proposed for Lake Hawea on 122 hectares of rural general property accessed off Cemetery Rd.

The other is called Bright Sky and is for 281 dwellings in Wanaka, accessed off Frederick St and Gordon Rd, Wanaka.

Developers of the Northlake (1500 sections), Three Parks (500), The Heights (130) and Sentinel Park (290) subdivisions have already nailed consents for at least 2500 sections and many are now being built on.

The two special housing (SHA) proposals are Wanaka’s first and have yet to be approved by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

Universal Developments owner Lane Hocking presented his SHA proposal to the Lake Hawea Community Association on February 20, as the first step in a community consultation process.

The Wanaka App reported Hocking has not put the proposal forward as part of the current district plan review and has not applied for a zone change, preferring instead to progress under new SHA rules that require a limited public notification procedure.

The Bright Sky directors include established Wanaka locals Grant Bisset, John Gilks and Paul Miller.

Details of Bright Sky are on the council website and public feedback is being sought by March 18 before the council considers it at a March 23 meeting in Wanaka.

Group home-builder David Reid will manage Bright Sky’s construction.

CoLab Architecture, of Christchurch, has produced a master plan revealing 281 mixed-style dwellings within a 20 minute walk to Wanaka’s town centre.

There are eight styles of dwellings, ranging from one-bedroom apartments to 220m2 family homes, all on sections of 500 square metres or less.

Bright Sky chairman John Gilks said the land has been within Wanaka’s Urban Growth Boundary since 2007.

Gilks said the reality was that without the SHA provisions, it ‘‘could take some time’’ to get the land to a point where it could be used to alleviate the affordable housing shortage.

‘‘So, the SHA legislation is definitely doing what it set out to do – remove delays, complexity and risk for developers, which in turn means we can deliver more affordable homes, rapidly increase the housing supply and ring-fence sufficient funding to create a high quality, fully master-planned new subdivision,’’ he said.

Bright Sky would bring diversity to Wanaka’s housing stock and would ‘‘guarantee’’ high quality by constructing the homes itself, he said.

Both developers are offering 10 per cent affordable housing packages, in line with the 2014 Queenstown Lakes District Council housing accord.