A council planner has recommended consent for a 131-room hotel near the Queenstown CBD be declined, but says a 260-room hotel at Kelvin Heights should be approved.
Resource consent hearings for Frankton Trading Trustee Company Ltd, mooter of the Ramada Hotel on the corner of Frankton Road and Stanley Street, and Lakes Edge Developments Ltd, promoting a new hotel beside Hilton Queenstown and DoubleTree by Hilton, will be held next month.
In his report on the proposed Ramada hotel, Queenstown Lakes District Council senior resource consents planner Andrew Woodford said subject to new or additional evidence being presented at the December 7 hearing, consent should be declined.
His concerns included traffic, parking, access and circulation for the site, which were "unable to be accurately assessed" at the time of writing the report.
Frankton Trading Trustee Company Ltd’s proposal is for a five-level hotel on a vacant site opposite The Millennium and Copthorne Hotels.
Vehicle entry would be from Frankton Rd, separated from the intersection with the State Highway by about 60cu m and the exit would be from Stanley St, separated from the intersection of the State Highway and Frankton Rd by about 60m.
The proposal attracted 11 submissions, five of those in opposition, including the NZ Transport Agency.
It’s submission said the application lacked information about vehicle tracking movements, the ability for vehicles to turn right on to Frankton Rd from Stanley St, or whether there were "enough gaps in the traffic" to allow for those turning movements.
Safety questions included whether increased turning movements resulting from the hotel would trigger the need for the intersection to be signalised, and if the turn was difficult, if it would be preferable to reverse the circulation of access, so the entrance was off Stanley St instead of Frankton Rd.
The agency questioned vehicle generation during construction and its effect on the state highway.
Meanwhile, Mr Woodford recommended Lakes Edge Development Ltd’s proposal for a hotel on land next to Hilton Queenstown and DoubleTree by Hilton at Kelvin Heights be approved. That proposal was for a hotel, up to seven levels high, which would also include a gym, guest laundry, restaurant, bar lounge and roof terrace.
It would exceed the 10m height limit in the district plan — in parts by 10.25m.
The proposal included a total of 73 on-site parking bays, including five staff parks, along with five coach parks.
Four submissions were received, three in opposition, including James Burns who said the proposal was "so blatant in its attempt to ignore QLDC planning requirements that it is totally offensive".
Kawarau Village Holdings Ltd, owner of the Hilton Hotel and DoubleTree by Hilton was not in opposition to a "suitably scaled and designed hotel" on that site, in principle.
"However, the scale and design of the building currently proposed, and the activities it would generate (particularly in respect of traffic and parking) is inappropriate for the site".
Mr Woodford’s report said he considered adverse effects of the proposal would be "no more than minor" and the application was not contrary to relevant objectives and policies of the operative and proposed district plans.
That hearing will be held in Queenstown on December 11.
