Debate over the significance of a Wanaka walking track and the visual experience of its users dominated a resource consent hearing yesterday.
The hearing, in Wanaka, was for Kate and Peter Martin's resource consent application to build a 536sq m dwelling and accessory buildings, with associated earthworks and landscaping, on rural general-zoned land they own at Little Mt Iron, in landscape classified as an Outstanding Natural Feature (ONF).
None of the four opposing submitters raised visual, landscape or amenity issues regarding the proposal. Rather, three neighbours had concerns about water supply, engineering matters and firefighting provisions, while the Otago Regional Council's submission related to the site's earthquake hazards.
Queenstown Lakes District Council reporting planner Richard Kemp recommended consent be declined, primarily because of the proposed dwelling's visibility from parts of a public walking track, known as the Hidden Hills track, on neighbouring conservation land.
''The site is highly sensitive and when viewed from the perspective of a recreational user of the track, an unacceptable degradation of the landscape and visual amenity will occur,'' Mr Kemp wrote.
The applicant's lawyer, Russell Ibbotson, criticised the report's ''single and repetitive focus'' on the Hidden Hills track, despite Mr Kemp's assessment that the dwelling's adverse landscape and visual effects would be minor when viewed from the wider environment and neighbouring properties.
Mr Ibbotson said existing and future residential development in the immediate area - Hidden Hills and Northlake subdivisions - would have a ''far greater effect ... on the expectation and experience of the track walker''.
The track was merely a link between the Hidden Hills subdivision and the Mt Iron walking track, and ''far from the romantic picture Mr Kemp attempts to convey'', Mr Ibbotson said.
The track was not identified in a Department of Conservation outdoor pursuits brochure for Wanaka and no data was available on its usage.
However, Mr Kemp noted while Doc had made no submission on the proposal, nor had it provided written approval, so the value it placed on the track was not known. He said the track was reasonably well-serviced, with turnstiles and signage.
The applicant's planning consultant, Carey Vivian, said the view of the district's planners that seeing a building from a trail would result in an adverse experience for the recreational user was ''absolutely incorrect''.
In his experience as a long-serving trustee of the Queenstown Trails Trust, a person's appreciation of a trail was more about the journey. Therefore, the proposed dwelling with its sensitive architectural design would become a feature of the track user's journey.
However, QLDC principal landscape architect Marion Read said Queenstown and Wanaka offered the potential for people to have a ''near-wilderness experience'' close to the two townships, where they could feel as if they were leaving residential areas behind.
Dr Read also pointed out while discussion had been ''myopically focused'' on the loss of visual amenity from the Hidden Hills track, it was likely there would also be adverse effects on other public areas within the neighbouring conservation land.
Mr Kemp said the applicant's volunteered covenant restricting future development, and an ecological and pest management strategy, would have minor positive effects, not equal to the high adverse visual effects on the recreational amenity of the public and the landscape values of the ONF.
Mr Vivian disagreed, and said the ecological restoration plan was a ''significant positive'' for the environment.
In focusing on the visibility of the dwelling from one trail Mr Kemp had failed to adequately consider the long-term management of the property.
Fire risk on the kanuka-clad slopes of the Mt Iron and Little Mt Iron subdivisions was discussed in detail throughout the hearing.
Commissioners Jane Taylor and Leigh Overton adjourned the meeting and reserved their decision.
