After owning and working land since 1964, Arrowtown farmer Roger Monk is now hoping a new private plan change, lodged with the Queenstown Lakes District Council on Monday, will enable the township to extend towards its natural boundaries.
Mr Monk is the largest landowner in a group of eight residents who are behind the Arrowtown South development.
If approved, the private plan change would see 30ha of land zoned rural become residential, with a plan to provide 215 homes on 17ha of land, with 12ha remaining as green space and 1ha being used as a "community hub" featuring a village store, child-care centre and other facilities.
The landowners - the Adamson, Harrington, McKay, Mahon, Monk, Read, Richardson and Ridley families - have spent nine months developing the master plan for the site, which is bounded by Centennial Ave and the Arrowtown and The Hills golf courses.
Mr Monk said 50 years ago Arrowtown was "very basic"and no street lights or houses were visible from his farm.
Now, however, there were residential areas "encroaching on it".
Rezoning the land would allow the town to extend towards its "natural boundaries", surrounded and protected by a green belt and extensive river reserve.
Many people had put down roots in Arrowtown over the past 50 years and many more wanted to do so, and Arrowtown South would give them that opportunity, Mr Monk said.
"We can build a small community here, with a real sense of space and a variety of section sizes, catering for those who want larger lifestyle sections to those who will be happy with something that doesn't have a crammed-in, suburban feel.
"We'll have narrow streets with grass verges and trees in the style of older parts of Arrowtown [and] walking and biking tracks, and we'll develop a beautiful wetland area for people to enjoy.
"We're not planning any buildings along the steep escarpment that runs much of the length of the land, as it would be too intrusive.
"Instead, we aim to re-vegetate it and create a walking track."
The farmhouse on the site, believed to have been built in 1867 and known as the Muter Homestead, will be retained and may be used to house the proposed child-care centre, while there were plans for the original old stables and chaff barn to be converted into a cafe.
Planner John Edmonds said the overall look, style and feel of the development would be in keeping with the original historic precinct of Arrowtown and its distinct sense of place.
"The proposal is to require extremely detailed design guidelines to be developed for each of the neighbourhoods, as well as a management plan for all of the open spaces throughout the zone.
"It will very much enhance this gateway to Arrowtown and add walking trails and reserves that will benefit locals and long-term visitors who have lived or holidayed here for generations - the perfect southern bookend to the settlement of Arrowtown.
"It will also be a managed safety valve, taking the pressure off potentially more intensive development within the existing Arrowtown boundaries if current land and housing stock runs out by 2016."
Mr Edmonds said a mailbox drop was carried out in Arrowtown in July with just seven responses to the proposal via the Arrowtown South website.
When asked if the responses were positive, Mr Edmonds said "generally, no".
"The whole idea is that we want to engage with people and explain the proposal to them - so that's what we're doing.
"It's the optimum time to put all of those ideas about urban growth on the table at once," Mr Edmonds said.
The process began when the Queenstown Lakes District Council embarked on its own plan changes, he said.
The private plan change will be publicly notified and open for public submissions in the coming weeks.
• The plan change can be viewed on www.arrowsouth.co.nz and feedback via the website is encouraged.
