In a resource consent hearing on Wednesday, Scope Resources Ltd outlined its plans to turn a disused quarry 5km south of Frankton into a "reasonably high density" residential subdivision.
Zoned rural general, the Stoney Creek quarry beside State Highway 6 is in the VAL with the Remarkables outstanding natural landscape behind it.
Because it has been excavated well below the original ground level, most of the planned villas and apartments will not be visible from the road.
Plans to restore a native beech forest and grey shrubland in the 112ha around the quarry have begun with up to 27,000 native seedlings planted, Scope Resources counsel Russell Ibbotson said.
Despite Morgan Pollard director and landscape architect Ralf Kruger telling the commissioners the surrounding landscape had been modified and the site degraded by the quarrying activity, Lakes Environmental landscape team leader Dr Marion Read was concerned the height of the exotic trees planned within the development would be visible once they matured.
She recommended a 10m height restriction for exotic plants because "trees poking up out of a hole" would announce the development's presence.
Having tall exotic trees visible above the quarry excavation would be a "sign of domestication" within a VAL, she said.
This has prompted an "innovative" compromise where the taller trees can be planted in areas which the natural contours of the surrounding land keep them hidden, Mr Ibbotson told the Queenstown Times.
Clark Fortune McDonald and Associates planner Chris Ferguson said "a lot of work" had been done and money spent on the project since before 2006 to get meet the requirements of a resource consent.
"The planting alone is a substantial investment," he said.
The plan - which was seen as an "attractive" re-use of formerly industrial land by commissioners Michael Parker and Lyal Cocks - was given provisional consent, although there is still further negotiation to take place on conditions, Mr Ibbotson said.
