An application to construct visitor accommodation for up to 20 people and find places for 14 new allotments and 12 residential building platforms on Mt Dewar Station near Queenstown has been publicly notified.
Mount Field Ltd has applied for subdivision consent for the work on the site, which comprises more than 1768ha of land between Coronet Peak and Skippers Canyon.
The station went through a tenure review about 14 years ago.
In the past, it had been farmed in conjunction with Ben Lomond Station, which accounted for the absence of farming infrastructure such as a homestead.
"In terms of viability, for Mt Dewar Station to be operating solely as a meat and/or wool-producing operation, nationwide studies have pointed to the average annual return on capital over many years to have been around 1%-2% nationwide for meat and wool-producing operations and often no more than 2%-3% for dairying (which is not an option for Mt Dewar)," the application said.
A Lincoln University report had stated many high-country farmers were in "financial difficulty after years of low income, stable working costs and recently rising debt-servicing costs.
The report concludes that diversification is required for rural farming operations to continue."
The proposed residential lots ranged in size from 1370sq m to 2460sq m, with the proposed visitor accommodation activities on an 18,779sq m site.
The people who bought the 14 lots would acquire full property rights to their land and secure a "right to roam" over the balance of Mt Dewar Station, subject to controls or restrictions necessary for farming and land-management purposes.
"In return for the `right to roam', each lot owner will be covenanted to annually contribute a fee that will pay for the Mt Dewar Station land-management regime", with wilding pine control a "major priority".
The visitor accommodation building proposed would have a 720sq m footprint and be 6m high - the same dimensions as a woolshed on the site.
Variations to Environment Court consents, or new land-use consents if necessary, had also been sought to convert a building platform restricted for use by the farm manager to a "general residential building platform" and to convert an existing temporary farm manager's house into a permanent dwelling for general residential use.
A total of 20,455cu m of earthworks was required over a total area of 20,750sq m, comprising 10,990cu m of cut, 5455cu m of fill and 4010cu m of stripped material.
"As a consequence of the potential grant of subdivision and land-use consents ... it is proposed to remove conditions of a previous Environment Court consent order."
Those conditions provided a restrictive covenant limiting future development on the site, and the requirement to submit a wilding pine control plan relating to clearing wilding pines from the application site.
Another wilding pine control plan would be introduced as part of the new consent, if granted.
Access to the site would be through two points from Skippers Rd, commonly referred to as Coronet Peak Rd, about 800m and 2.1km north of the Malaghans and Skippers Rd junction.
Existing farm access tracks were to be upgraded and new access roads formed to get to the proposed building platforms.
"The applicant has also volunteered to form a public walking track and mountain-biking trail adjacent to Skippers Peak Rd, from Arthurs Point to the base of the Zoot Trail (opposite Dan O'Connells bush).
"The proposed trail would create an ability for Arthurs Pt residents to link with the wider trail network of Mt Dewar - which includes the Devil's Creek Walkway, Skippers Pack Track, Shotover River trails and the Zoot mountain-bike trail - without needing to walk or cycle up Skippers/Coronet Peak Rd.
"The applicant would pay for the construction of the track and the cost of the relevant council walkway signage," the application said.
Submissions on the application close on April 6.
