A residential subdivision on the edge of Wanaka has been approved after the sole objector withdrew their submission.
Stuart and Melanie Pinfold, of Satomi Holdings Ltd, had applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council to subdivide their 2.5ha site on Cardrona Valley Rd into 21 residential lots with dwellings, 10 of which could be further subdivided.
The land is zoned rural lifestyle with a visitor accommodation sub-zone overlay, and Satomi had proposed a higher residential density than the zone allowed.
The site's neighbour, Base Camp Properties Ltd, initially wanted the land retained for visitor accommodation and considered the restaurant and cinema businesses housed within its building incompatible with residential living.
However, following last month's hearing on the application, Satomi and Base Camp entered a private side agreement regarding the two proposed lots closest to the shared boundary, which included a no-complaints covenant in relation to Base Camp's lawful commercial operations.
Base Camp subsequently withdrew its opposing submission and provided affected-party approval.
In their decision, independent commissioners Denis Nugent and Leigh Overton said granting consent for the subdivision represented ''sustainable management of natural and physical resources''.
They said the zoning of land on the urban edges of Wanaka stopped reflecting the reality of residential growth ''some time ago'', and the council had failed to provide appropriate zoning through the district plan.
The combination of rural lifestyle zoning with a visitor accommodation overlay provided for either rural-residential large lot development or intense urban development of visitor accommodation.
''Given that inherent inconsistency, we are satisfied that this proposal does not challenge the integrity of the district plan.''
They also noted the residential development of land immediately to the north of the site, despite its rural-residential zoning, which meant there could be no precedent effects arising from the Satomi subdivision.
They considered it appropriate to grant land use consent allowing for one or more dwellings on each lot which did not need to comply with any of the zone standards, subject to conditions including having one residential unit per 450sq m and a maximum building coverage of 40%.
The commissioners also agreed to to cancel three prior consent notices which applied to the site and to grant a 10-year consent as sought by Satomi to allow adequate time for the subdivision to proceed in stages.
