The developers of the gated Threepwood subdivision on prime land beside Lake Hayes have lodged a resource consent application which, if approved, would "re-create the lost characteristics of the setting which existed at the start of 2005".
Meadow 3 Ltd, developer of Threepwood, was taken to the Environment Court in 2007 by Arrowtown resident Fred van Brandenburg and the Queenstown Lakes District Council, facing allegations it removed the protected trees from the site in breach of a land-use consent, in which some trees were protected by a covenant.
The Environment Court's decision effectively stopped any further development at the Ladies Mile site - affecting six lots of the 200ha site, one of which had been sold - until the trees were mature enough to screen the development from the road, the Lake Hayes walking track and other properties.
At the time, it was estimated that could take up to 20 years.
Meadow 3 Ltd has lodged a resource consent to vary three conditions of a land-use consent dated August 11, 1999, to retrospective-ly address effects created as a result of tree felling, limbing and pruning work done in 2005.
The application seeks to mitigate the effects by replanting.
"The application proposes to restore the Arcadian or picturesque qualities of the landscape, referred to as the `natural resource' in . . . the RMA [Resource Management Act]."
Meadow 3 Ltd also seeks to subdivide by way of a boundary adjustment of several lots and relocate building platforms on some of those lots to further mitigate the adverse effects.
