Property developer Allan Dippie looks likely to be the saviour for a group of disgruntled Meadowstone residents opposed to a neighbouring proposed retirement village at Wanaka.
Stoney Creek Village Ltd (SCVL) has applied to build a 97-unit apartment complex on a 1.83ha site off Mt Aspiring Rd in the Meadowstone sub-division.
SCVL director Tony Hannon said the 10-building apartment complex and ancillary buildings, including administration, lounges, a gym, pool, library and village green, would be a "lifestyle" retirement village.
The proposal has outraged a group of Meadowstone residents who object to the size and scale of the buildings, which plans show will range in height from 7.4m to 12.2m above existing ground level.
The maximum allowable building height under the council's district plan is 8m.
Mr Dippie has made a public submission on the SCVL proposal which opposes the retirement village, because it fails to reflect a suitable "residential character density and amenity" in this location.
Mr Dippie is the director of Willowridge Developments Ltd, the company that built the residential suburb of Meadowstone, at Wanaka.
Another 119 opposing public submissions were received by council planning and regulatory body Lakes Environmental, by last month's cut-off date.
Thirty-one submissions supported the retirement village proposal.
However, Mr Dippie's trump card comes in the form of a legal covenant over the 1.83ha block, which prohibits buildings on the site from exceeding 7m above ground level.
Willowridge owns the property directly behind the proposed SCVL site and retains the covenant on the site from when it sold the land to Wanaka property development company Infinity Ltd, which on-sold to SCVL.
The SCVL proposal is also opposed by the Otago Regional Council, which has concerns regarding the potential for Stoney Creek to flood.
The waterway runs through the middle of the proposed village.
A date for a publicly-notified hearing of SCVL's resource consent application has yet to be set.
Stoney Creek Village
-Proposal to build 97-unit retirement village.
-10 apartment buildings up to three-storeys high.
-Public submissions: 31 in support, 120 opposed.
