The Australian-based developer currently operates within an 88-hectare ‘special zone’ allowing it to create up to 750 residential sections.
So far, however, only 217 sections have been granted consent — to date, 110 have sold in double-quick time for as low as $299,000 each — or, as KVL senior development manager Nicola Tristram says, "almost half the price of what you can buy within Queenstown".
In July, she explains Queenstown’s council agreed to progress a special zone review under the proposed district plan, affecting the Kingston zone and many others.
KVL hoped that review would allow it to continue offering affordable sections beyond the initial 217 lots.
Tristram, however, says the government’s put a "plan stop" on that review, as it looks to overhaul Resource Management Act legislation to fit its ‘growth’ policies.
She says KVL "totally agrees with the intent of all the reforms government’s doing".
"But we’ve got to figure out a pathway in order to get beyond the currently consented 217."
As a result, she suggests KVL will go for a ministerial exemption or a private plan change "to try and progress and improve the timing of that continued supply".
That’s needed, Tristram says, to allow them to continue to offer the smaller, cheaper lots that are proving popular with the first-home and family markets.
"Affordability is just driving the demand for smaller lots, but now our planning framework doesn’t allow for that flexibility for those smaller lots."
