Cinema Paradiso's future in Wanaka appears secure after commissioners at a resource consent hearing yesterday indicated an application to move the business closer to the town centre would be approved.
Cinema operator Calum McLeod said he was "very excited" about the hearing's outcome, after commissioners Jane Taylor and Gillian Macleod said they were "inclined to grant consent", subject to a final set of conditions.
Duffy Crook, of Varina Property Ltd, owns the former Catholic church in Brownston St and applied for land-use consent in December to relocate Cinema Paradiso there. The cinema's lease on its existing building on the corner of Ardmore St, Ballantyne Rd and Stratford Tce expires in September 2012, although a demolition clause could result in early termination of the lease.
The church site and the area to the south of Brownston St is zoned low density residential.
At a notification determination hearing in September, Commissioner David Whitney ruled the adverse effects of the activity would be more than minor, including those associated with "peripheral expansion rather than intensification of activity in the Wanaka town centre" and blurring the clear definition of the edge of the town centre at Brownston St. The application attracted 1012 submissions, with only one opposed.
Paterson Pitts planner Duncan White, representing Mr McLeod, said about half the houses along the south side of Brownston St were occupied by commercial tenants so, while the character was residential, "the use is in transition from residential to commercial".
Several submitters speaking at the hearing agreed the blurring of zones already existed and the cinema's relocation was part of a natural expansion of the town centre.
Lake Hawea resident Errol Carr said the fact Brownston St was now an arterial route "makes the existing zoning on the south side of the road look silly".
Brownston St resident Loris King described the zoning restrictions as "a ludicrous situation" and said the entertainment provided by the cinema was a "welcome relief from all the bars and the emphasis on alcohol" in the town centre.
Ms Macleod queried the need for 22 car parks at the site, particularly if it meant removing established trees.
Lakes Environmental planner Lucy Millton and engineer Mark Townsley said amendments to the car parking design could be made to fit in with the natural landscape. Reducing the gap between movie screenings from 45 minutes to half an hour as requested by the applicant was also acceptable, they said.
The commissioners will release their decision by December 19.
