Orchard Road Holdings Ltd has applied for resource consent to create 19 residential lots on its 84.6ha rural general site known as the ''triangle'', bounded by Cardrona Valley, Riverbank and Orchard Rds. The application attracted eight opposing submissions and none in support.
It proposes 18 residential lots - each with a building platform - between 6000sq m and 1.13ha in area, configured in clusters on either side of a private access way running through the site and set back from the roads bordering the triangle.
A 19th lot, about 67ha in size, would be maintained as pastoral land leased to Hillend Station, with a covenant preventing further subdivision or development on part of that land surrounding the other 18 lots.
''This will ensure the open, rural outlook for the entrance to the town remains in perpetuity,'' Orchard Road Holdings co-director Allan Dippie said at a hearing in Wanaka this week.
The balance of lot 19 in the eastern corner of the triangle - about one-third of the entire site - would be set aside for future residential development at a higher density, if required.
However, commissioner Gillian Macleod raised concerns about the non-covenanted balance of lot 19.
''It would be nice to know with some certainty what could happen there,'' she said.
Graham Dickson, appearing on behalf of the Wanaka Residents Association, said the proposal's lot density was too low and not consistent with the Wanaka Structure Plan and its projections for growth to the year 2026.
The land was between the plan's inner and outer growth boundaries and was intended to provide for urban growth in the longer term, Mr Dickson said.
''The proposed development effectively sterilises some 60ha of land from future urban development, providing only 19 lots as against some 500 at normal urban densities.
''If it is not available for urban uses at the densities assumed in the structure plan, other lands, probably across the Clutha or the Cardrona [rivers] will have to be used, with consequent servicing and access issues.''
Later in the hearing, Queenstown Lakes District Council senior planner Craig Barr said the structure plan had no statutory weight and while it should be considered, it should not be given pre-eminence over the policies and objectives of the district plan.
He did not expect Wanaka would need high-density development on the triangle land for some time, given the high number of residential lots available in the Wanaka area. Submitter Toni Cruickshank Maguire said Wanaka's lot availability made Orchard Road Holdings' proposal premature.
''I'm not saying that this type of proposal is wholly inappropriate. It might be right for the triangle, just not at this time ... I think it needs to be driven by the needs of the community, not by the needs of the applicant.''
Mrs Cruickshank Maguire was speaking on behalf of her family trust, which owns a property on Cardrona Valley Rd within the triangle, where her parents live.
''It seems that the effect on our property has been largely overlooked ... our visual amenity is basically ruined.''
She and Mr Dickson also opposed the subdivision's use of individual septic tanks discharging into the Cardrona aquifer.
Connecting to the town wastewater system was a ''no-brainer'', particularly when a proposed Cardrona Valley pipeline would be running ''right past the door'' within a couple of years, Mrs Cruickshank Maguire said.
In response to Commissioner David Collins' query about whether there was evidence the advanced septic systems proposed by Mr Dippie were likely to fail and lead to downstream effects, Mr Barr said the Otago Regional Council had raised no concerns.
Mr Dippie's lawyer Graeme Todd asked that either option - an on-site wastewater system or connection to the town system - be permitted, depending on whether the Cardrona pipeline was operational when the subdivision began.
He offered a separate covenant over the remainder of lot 19, preventing development for a 10-year period, and suggested working with the Cruickshanks to provide additional screening of the proposed properties nearest to their home.
Commissioners Macleod and David Collins reserved their decision.
