Click photo to enlarge
The hall at the rear of Arrowtown's St John's Presbyterian
Church, which was built in 1871 as the Millers Flat church.
Photo by Jude Gillies.
Plans to move the 139-year-old Millers Flat church from
the historic St John's Presbyterian Church site to a site
behind Adams Cottage, on Arrowtown's Buckingham St, will be
heard in Queenstown on Friday, February 19.
Commissioners Andrew Henderson and Christine Kelly will chair
the hearing, at the Crowne Plaza hotel, from 11am.
The commissioners approved plans by the Otago Foundation
Trust Board to build a new $1.4 million community hall next
to St John's, restore the church building and convert the
existing vestry from a hall to a church office, in September
2009.
Mr Henderson and Ms Kelly also gave consent approval, with
conditions, for a cafe and art gallery to operate in Romans
Cottage and for Adams Cottage to become professional offices,
in October last year.
Planning consultant Blair Devlin, of Brown & Pemberton
Planning Group, will address district plan concerns on behalf
of the applicant, the Arrowtown Trust, at the relocation
hearing next week.
The trust wanted to move the timber church and use it for
small-scale commercial activities as part of the public
heritage precinct being developed.
Trust chairman David Clarke will give a presentation and
Queenstown and District Historical Society president Brian
Bayley and St John's building committee chairman Bruce Patton
will speak in support.
Queenstown architect and historic buildings specialist Jackie
Gillies will explain on behalf of the trust the historical
significance of the church, which was was built at Millers
Flat, below Coronet Peak, in 1871.
It was moved to Speargrass Flat Rd in 1950 and was relocated
again in 1959 to the St John's site, to be used as a church
hall.
Mr Devlin said while the trust was the applicant, the church
and the Otago Foundation Trust were the driving forces,
because they could not begin construction of the new hall
without the removal of the old hall.
The move was also a condition of their consent.
"The proposal keeps [Millers Flat church] accessible to the
public, whereas the alternative option is to sell it to
someone privately and it could potentially be lost to the
community," Mr Devlin said.
The application was publicly notified in late November and
eight submissions were received by Lakes Environmental by the
deadline of January 13.
Poplar Lodge and landowners Adin May and Jackie Sly lodged
two submissions opposing the resource consent application.
Moving the church near Adams Cottage would be "inappropriate"
because of its size and the confines of the section and the
historic open space behind would be lost, they submitted.
They raised the issue of pedestrian safety on Romans Lane if
couriers made several deliveries a day.
The trust had not identified the type of tenant who would
lease the church, the frequency of deliveries or the effect
of having more pedestrians in the area, the lodge owners
said.
Mr May and Ms Sly requested 10 conditions if the application
was granted.
They included limiting hours of church activity, defining its
intended use and confirmation the trust had funds and was
able to complete the project in a reasonable amount of time.
Mr Patton said he would discuss the issues and conditions of
the lodge owners with them this week.
Mr Devlin said most of the lodge owners' conditions would be
imposed by Lakes Environmental.
Arrowtown resident Karen Swaine said if consent was granted,
no further development in the historic precinct should be
considered until a management plan was developed and
implemented.
Ms Swaine said she would also speak at the hearing.
