The Queenstown Lakes District Council is to delay issuing decisions on the first stage of its proposed district plan (PDP) by a year.
In a report to the council’s planning and strategy committee this week, council planning policy manager Ian Bayliss said stage 1 of the plan was notified on August 25, 2015, and under the Resource Management Act (RMA) decisions must be issued no later than two years after the notification date.
While recent changes to the RMA meant local authorities had to obtain leave from the Minister for the Environment to extend the two-year time limit, that did not come into force until October 17, he said.
Also because the first stage was notified before the RMA was changed, the amendment did not apply to it, Mr Bayliss said.
The council had previously resolved to review the proposed plan in tranches and to prioritise stage 1 decisions so those rules had "legal effect".
Twelve hearing streams in stage 1 had been completed, including rural, residential, business, landscapes, significant natural areas and ski area sub-zones.
Mr Bayliss said decisions on those streams would be issued early next year.
"The work programme of the hearings panel for the PDP review will dictate the timing of the decisions ... It is expected that recommendations on stage 1 will be received in January or February of 2018, which will allow council to issue decisions ... within the first quarter of 2018.
"In order to avoid multiple extensions of time, and as a precaution to deal with unanticipated circumstances which may lead to unavoidable delays, an extension of time of one year is recommended."
The committee voted to accept a recommendation to extend the time period for decisions to August 26, 2018, but noted it expected decisions to be released by March 31 next year.
