The New Zealand Police have applied for a notice of requirement to designate a site on Ballantyne Rd near the Department of Conservation (Doc) building for the development of the long-awaited new Wanaka police station to replace the existing one on Helwick St.
The proposed site is designated recreation reserve, with an underlying zoning of low-density residential, and was first identified for the proposed police station in the Queenstown Lakes District Council-prepared Wanaka Town Centre Strategy.
Planner Duncan White, from Paterson Pitts Wanaka Ltd, said the site was being set aside for police purposes by the Minister for Land Information and Minister of Conservation. However, while this would secure the land, it did not allow police to construct a building, which was the objective of the notice of requirement application.
One submission was received on the application, from MacPherson St property owner Roger Boyd, of Auckland, who objected to the proposal. He raised four issues: whether a new police station was needed, the reserve status of the site, the current use of MacPherson St as a through road, and the effects of the proposed station on future realignment of the Ardmore St/Ballantyne Rd/Hedditch St intersection.
Mr White said the existing "overcrowded" station had reached the end of its useful life and while police had considered redevelopment of the site, its size and shape restricted building options and it could not accommodate future growth.
"Open space providers" Doc and QLDC had approved the location of the station, so had therefore considered whether it would adversely affect the provision of open space for Wanaka, Mr White's report said.
Commissioner Sally Middleton questioned whether the station would be sufficiently set back from Ballantyne Rd, which would experience increased traffic flows as the Three Parks subdivision was developed. The proposed station's project manager, Stuart Anderson, of Signal Management Group, said the building would be about 20m from the road boundary, which left ample room for any road realignments and widening deemed necessary.
Consideration was given to the maximum building height, which is 7m in the low-density residential zone. The top of the proposed station is 7.3m, so a maximum height of 8m was sought in the application. Lakes Environmental planner Ian Greaves was satisfied the site could absorb the increased height limit and recommended the notice of requirement be granted.
Commissioners Middleton and David Clarke reserved their decision on the application.
