Cr Samuel Belk’s comments come in the wake of the Ayrburn Screen Hub being granted fast-track consent against the wishes of objectors — many of whom said it would spoil the enjoyment of their million-dollar views and also believed it would not be a ‘‘screen hub’’, but a Trojan horse for housing development.
The 26ha site for the Ayrburn Screen Hub between Arrowtown and Lake Hayes has been described by developer Chris Meehan as ‘‘the best part of the most expensive street’’ in New Zealand.
‘‘So now we have an approved fast-track application — is the film hub really a Trojan horse for hundreds of houses?’’ Cr Belk asked.
‘‘There is no planned infrastructure: sewerage, water, or roads.
‘‘The lakes region already has an ‘infrastructure deficit’ that runs into the billions: sewerage treatment, roading, bridges.’’
Developer Winton’s general manager Queenstown, Lauren Christie, told NZX the decision would deliver meaningful employment and economic growth for the region and significantly strengthen New Zealand’s film and television infrastructure.
At the same time it would also provide further improvements to water quality beyond the gains already achieved across the wider Ayrburn site, she said.
Cr Belk said Queenstown Lakes had become ‘‘ground zero’’ for fast-track developments.
‘‘Over 30% of the fast-track applications nationally are right here in the lakes region. This is the goldmine for development.
‘‘In our Arrowtown-Kawarau ward, there are six applications, all tied to housing development.
‘‘Future generations will look back on this period and identify it as a house-building boom and wonder why we were not more responsible in our stewardship of resources, the landscape and sustainable growth in our pursuit of progress,’’ Cr Belk said.
He was also concerned about what he saw as ‘‘significant democratic, social, economic and environmental risks’’.
‘‘It will enable leap-frogging of environmental protections for private projects that would otherwise be non-consentable.
‘‘The commissioners are largely bound by restrictive rules. Call it what you will, a largely preordained process, a Star Chamber, a kangaroo court — that’s what the fast-track approval process is,’’ he said.
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor John Glover said the fast-track process had been ‘‘confronting’’ for council staff, who had previously spent many years drawing up plans for housing in the region.
‘‘There’s a significant amount of work for our organisation in responding to the fast-track applications, often at very, very short notice, and with limited ability to recover the costs that the community basically have to pay for us to respond.
‘‘The general comment we make about a lot of the fast-tracks is they’re not in areas that we’ve anticipated and planned for housing growth.
‘‘We’ve worked hard with communities and lawyers and developers over the last 20 years to develop a set of planning rules and development zones.’’
Mr Glover said prior to the fast-track process, the council already had more than 30 years’ housing capacity enabled in its plans.
‘‘That’s where we plan to put our pipes in the ground over a period of time so that it’s affordable for the council to put the infrastructure in.’’
Yet a series of fast-track proposals amounted to ‘‘about 8000 houses in the Wakatipu Basin’’, Mr Glover said.
‘‘That is the equivalent of Wanaka just landing here.’’
Infrastructure Minister Christopher Bishop, who introduced the fast-track process, has been approached for comment.
