Potential flooding risks associated with Stoney Creek are the main grounds listed in the recommendation to turn down an amended resource consent application for the proposed Stoney Creek Retirement Village.
Stoney Creek Village Ltd (SCVL) lodged an amended resource consent application with Queenstown Lakes District Council planning authority Lakes Environmental last month for an 85-unit retirement village off Mt Aspiring Rd.
SCVL had originally applied for 97-unit retirement village on the 1.84ha site, which consisted of 10 apartment buildings of varied heights of between 7.4m to 12.2m above existing ground level.
However, a covenant exists over the site, which prohibits any buildings from exceeding 7m in height.
The developer's amended building plans - filed on November 23 - have brought their proposed two-level apartments back to within the height regulations, Lakes Environmental planner Paula Costello said in her report.
Ms Costello's report considered the amended application and building plans - not the original resource consent proposal which had been placed on hold after a request for flood mitigation information from the Otago Regional Council in February.
Her report recommended that SCVL's proposal be declined resource consent on the grounds that potential flooding risks associated with Stoney Creek, which runs through the middle of the development, have "not been appropriately mitigated".
However, the bulk of the proposed retirement village application "generally aligns with the . . . [council's] district plan," Ms Costello found.
The effects of the proposal on the character and amenity of the surrounding Meadowstone area "are not considered significant".
The 1.83ha site - zoned rural lifestyle - was within the boundaries of residential Wanaka and "is appropriately considered . . . an infill site," Ms Costello's report said.
The site is surrounded by rural residential-zoned housing and "low density suburban outcomes," derived from previous resource consent decisions for development in the area.
A submission from the ORC raised concerns about the potential flooding hazard from Stoney Creek to the development.
Works associated with the proposed development also had the potential to exacerbate flooding hazards downstream, a Lakes Environmental engin-eer's report concluded.
Ms Costello's recommendation is subject to any new or additional evidence being presented to commissioners at a scheduled three-day resource consent hearing in Wanaka, starting on December 15.
