Partners behind the Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village in Wanaka want to change the layout and staging of the development planned for Golf Course Rd.
A joint venture partnership, formed by landowner Peter Gordon and a group of investors, wants to amend existing resource consents, which the Queenstown Lakes District Council granted in 2008, to develop the 46.88ha site.
Stage one of the retirement village, which consists of 13 dwellings located off Golf Course Rd, is nearly complete.
Eight stages are planned and once completed it will comprise 110 residential units, 46 independent apartments, communal and recreational facilities such as a village green, tennis courts, bowling greens, and library, as well as a hospital and medical centre.
The developers presented their proposed changes to commissioners Jane Taylor andGillian Macleod at a resource consent hearing in Wanaka yesterday.
The village site is located over two different planning zones - a rural residential zone which requires large section sites, and a rural general zone which allows for more dwellings.
The developers propose to increase the density of residential development within the rural residential zoned part of the site, and decrease the corresponding density of village units within the rural general zoned part of the site, lawyer Russell Ibbotson, of Queenstown, said.
The proposal is opposed by neighbouring Golf Course Rd landowners Peter and Lisa Jackson, who contend the increased density of dwellings and facilities at the site will compromise their landscape views, while the staged construction of the development will also have effects on their property.
Aspiring Lifestyle Retirement Village director Aaron Armstrong, who is involved with several retirement developments in New Zealand, said the amended plan would create a more even spread of dwellings across the whole site.
The change in density would provide a greater "sense of community" for residents and make the villas more attractive to buyers.
The commissioners adjourned the hearing to consider their decision.
