The strategy committee of the Queenstown Lakes District Council yesterday accepted the recommendation private plan change 45 - Northlake zone should proceed to public notification.
Progress was conditional on more information about traffic effects being provided to the council, to its satisfaction, and this was expected over the next four to five weeks.
The private plan change request was presented to committee members by Vision Planning director Vicki Jones, of Queenstown.
Plan change applicant Michaela Ward Meehan, of Sydney, owns the majority of land subject to the plan change. She is a former Danish Olympic sailor and her New Zealand husband Chris Meehan, a real estate manager, was raised in Queenstown.
Ms Ward Meehan is working with four other landowners to rezone 219ha on Aubrey Rd, Wanaka, from a mixture of rural general and rural residential to the proposed new Northlake zone.
Consented development can begin on 64 lots on 30ha already zoned rural residential, next to Aubrey Rd.
Most of those lots have been pre-sold, at an average of $260,000 per site. The sections were priced at up to $75,000 less than similar-sized sections in other developments in Wanaka.
The plan change would allow for an average density of seven houses per hectare, which meant a total capacity of about 1600 dwellings.
Land would be set aside for recreational areas, pedestrian and cycle trails and internal roads. Kanuka and matagouri scrub would be regenerated.
The Outlet Rd and Aubrey Rd intersection is about 4km from the Wanaka town centre.
The 1600 extra houses in Northlake would greatly expand Wanaka's residential capacity. It has 8545 residential sections, either already built, approved or designated.
However, Cr Cath Gilmour, in committee, criticised the lack of affordable housing in the Northlake proposal.
She was concerned amendments to the council's affordable and community housing plan change signalled to developers the council was no longer serious about the initiative.
Cr Simon Stamers-Smith cautioned against needlessly complicating the district plan with multiple zone changes. Plan change 45 - Northlake zone is expected to be notified for public consultation about the end of the month, subject to the council receiving satisfactory traffic impact information by then.
A report will summarise feedback and some submitters may be invited to expand on their comments, before the matter goes to a hearing chaired by commissioners, possibly in early October.
The commissioners' decision on the rezoning is expected to be released in the new year.
