Lake Hawea subdivision Timsfield has a market-driven
affordable housing scheme without the need for council
planning policy, its developer says. Photo by Matthew
Haggart.
More legal action could be on the cards for Queenstown
Lakes developers as they continue efforts to stop a contentious
council policy imposing affordable housing levies on them.
A group of developers, which includes Queenstown's
Remarkables Park Ltd, Wanaka's Infinity Ltd, and Willowridge
Ltd, are opposed to the Queenstown Lakes District Council's
affordable housing policy.
Willowridge and Infinity directors are considering their
options after Judge Gordon Whiting ruled the QLDC's plan
change 24 - Affordable and Community Housing (PC24) - fell
within the scope of the Resource Management Act (RMA).
The QLDC wants to use PC24 to impose a levy, under the
resource consent process, when land is rezoned from rural to
urban classification.
Infinity general manager Marc Bretherton and Willowridge
director Allan Dippie have both described PC24 as an unfair
tax on district property developers who are already providing
affordable housing schemes.
The pair met this week and Mr Dippie told the Otago Daily
Times the companies were considering their next move.
"We can either appeal the decision to the High Court
immediately and go into negotiations with the council, or
wait for the second substantive hearing," he said.
The two companies were among a group of five Queenstown Lakes
property developers, which asked the Environment Court to
rule on a preliminary question of law whether PC24 - and the
council's intention to regulate the commercial market - was
within the scope of planning law and the RMA.
QLDC senior policy analyst Scott Figenshow hailed the
Environment Court's decision this week as an "important
community win."
PC24 will apply whenever developers seek to rezone land from
rural to urban.
"Rezoning ... improves land value [and] this plan change
means the wider community can benefit from that," Mr
Figenshow said.
He acknowledged developers had already voluntarily provided
"stakeholder" schemes to the council at seven different
developments around the district during the past eight years.
There are 250 affordable homes scheduled to be delivered over
the next 15 years.
Mr Dippie said times had changed since PC24 was first
envisaged and an economic downturn had affected the property.
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