At the closing of the hearing before commissioners Trevor Shiels and Leigh Overton yesterday, landscape architect Dr Marion Read and planner Andrew Henderson stood by their opinions the development had adverse landscape effects.
Realigning the Millennium Track near Damper Bay Estates Ltd's boundary would reduce the visibility of some of the houses from the track, but did not outweigh the overall effects, they said.
"My concerns about the visibility from the balance of the track and the surface of the lake remain," Mr Henderson said.
The development by rich-list businessmen Trevor Farmer and Craig Heatley, of Auckland, and Mark Taylor, of Queenstown, has been criticised by opponents as being of "industrial scale" and at risk from fire.
Wanaka Residents Association president Graham Dickson said the building platforms had a combined footprint of some 4700sq m, providing for between 30-40 average-sized houses.
"These are very large buildings. For comparison, Wanaka New World is about 1750sq m, the Lake Wanaka Centre about 1000sq m and the Wanaka Library about 800sq m," he said.
Environmental Defence Society lawyer Jan Caunter said the application contained "misleading" and "sweeping, generalised descriptions" about the scale of the project.
The developers had "played down" the fact they wanted six large houses at six separate sites, Ms Caunter said.
The application sought defined building platforms of almost 1000sq m each for three primary dwellings but did not define platforms for three guest houses, instead describing them as being within "approved curtilage areas" and having a footprint of 600sq m.
This had suggested six houses could somehow be folded within three building platforms when this was not the case, Ms Caunter said.
Alpha Burn Station farmer Don McRae, who farmed at Damper Bay for 40 years, was not opposed to the houses but opposed retiring 80% the land (163ha) from grazing because it would be impossible to control weeds without destroying regenerating native vegetation.
The bay would become a fire hazard, it would also be extremely difficult to control rabbits and other pests and productive farmland would be lost, Mr McRae said.
Upper Clutha Tracks Trusttrustee John Wellington neither supported nor opposed but sought conditions to, among other things, provide non-motorised access from Mt Aspiring Rd to Damper Bay and a small car park. This access had been unsuccessfully sought during tenure review of Alpha Burn Station and there was still substantial support for it, Mr Wellington said.
The developer's lawyer, Michael Parker, gave lengthy closing submissions on issues such as cumulative effects, housing density, visibility, and environmental compensation. He rejected claims about lake views, saying only "a tiny percent" of people boated in the bay.
He queried why the Environmental Defence Society considered Damper Bay such a special case when it had not got involved in other consent applications.
Mr McRae's concerns were "a little bit rich" given Mr McRae had subdivided the Damper Bay block and was seeking "to exercise control over its use", Mr Parker said.
Mr McRae could have registered a covenant regarding grazing before he sold the property, but chose not to, he said.
Mr Parker said there was very little evidence of fire risks at Damper Bay, although there had been a recent fire in regenerating vegetation at John May's place on Roys Peninsula. It seemed most fires were in public places, rather than around domestic houses, he said.
Mr Shiels said in a hot north-wester, it was nothing for a scrub fire to travel 200m. Retiring pasture and regenerating native vegetation close to houses were being described as positive, mitigating effects of the development, so the commissioners had to consider those matters, although the decision would not turn on those points, he said.
Mr Parker rejected comments made by opponents that future owners would fail to comply with strict conditions.
The sort of people who wanted property like that at Damper Bay were normally "very committed".
If they did not want to be bound, they would not buy, he said. Mr Shiels replied that conditions should not be unrealistic.
The commissioners adjourned for another site visit. The decision would be available by mid-February.
