Wanaka resident and former Auckland City Council chief traffic engineer Graham Dickson made his submission at the Queenstown Lakes District Council plan change hearing to decide whether Three Parks can proceed.
Wanaka property developer Allan Dippie's company, Willowridge Developments Ltd, is behind the proposal for a 100ha residential, commercial, and retail development on land near Mount Iron and bounded by Ballantyne Rd.
The council has stepped in to process Three Parks by way of a plan change, which would rezone the 100ha site into seven "special purpose" zones to allow for the staged development.
Mr Dickson told council commissioners Gillian Macleod, of Queenstown, and Leigh Overton, of Wanaka, that the roading pattern for Three Parks will need to extend beyond the next 20 years to "the life of the town."
"While idealised sketches in the discussion documents show tree-lined streets with a few distant cars and pedestrians happily strolling across the street, the reality will be heavy traffic flows with 5-10% heavy vehicles and associated fumes and noise," Mr Dickson said.
He was concerned the proposed positioning of businesses in Three Parks meant many were fronted by arterial roads which could become increasingly congested in the future.
This would compromise the safety of pedestrians and increase traffic crashes, he said.
His suggested solution was to modify the retail centre so it was developed around internal local roads in keeping with the "desired village character" and keeping the arterials as borders.
Mr Dickson also opposed the planner's intention to develop a "superior" rule set for the low density residential zone.
"These superior rules seem to be focused on achieving houses lined up facing the street to give passive overview of the streets, removing certainty in heights of buildings, taking away effective daylight and sunlight protection and creating grid layout streets."
The Three Parks plan change hearing continues today and concludes tomorrow at Edgewater Resort in Wanaka, with scheduled submitters including Shotover Park Ltd and district council representatives.
Three Parks: Day 3
> Wanaka Residents Association takes issue with arterial roads layout, rules for the low-density residential zone, setback of houses, fence heights, limitation of cul-de-sacs and minimum lot sizes.
> Planner Scott Edgar gave evidence for Ballantyne Investments Ltd requesting the Three Parks residential component be removed so planning could begin separately alongside the adjoining land, to the west, which it owned.
> Cr Macleod agreed that consultation between Three Parks and Ballantyne Investments Ltd was important to achieve a mutually satisfactory outcome.
> Allan Dippie used Wanaka subdivision Meadowstone as an example of staged development "from the back towards the front" that worked well. However, he said he would take Ballantyne Investments Ltd suggestions into account.
> Quote of the day: "This I think is almost misleading advertising. It won't be like that," Graham Dickson referring to the Three Parks sketches of its proposed retail environment.
