Community concern about the density of residential development in Wanaka and Queenstown is to be met by three proposed Plan Changes, due to go before the full council this month, Queenstown Lakes District Council strategy and planning manager Vicki Jones said.

The Plan Changes would directly affect the residential zones of the district.

"The council's Strategy Committee has been working on the Plan Changes, in conjunction with the Urban Design Panels for the past 18 months, finally approving the changes last week," Ms Jones said.

Before they can be notified, the Plan Changes require the approval of the full council.

"The first Plan Change amends the provisions of the high density residential zone. Its primary focus is the protection of the amenity of the zone, particularly as viewed from the street, walkways and the lake. It arose out of community concern that the zone currently enables large, bulky apartment buildings which adversely affect the streetscape, and destroy the amenity values of the residential areas," Ms Jones said.

The Plan Change therefore focused on ensuring that buildings over a certain size and/or those with a certain number of units were controlled in terms of their appearance, ensuring that the streetscape was not adversely affected.

The Plan Change also identified different sub-zones.

"This recognises that within the High Density Residential area, there are different areas with different values, for example, the high density zone surrounding Queenstown town centre at the foot of Ben Lomond has different values and can absorb higher density than some other High Density Residential areas. It is proposed that densities be generally lower in Wanaka's High Density Residential zone," Ms Jones said.

The second Plan Change related to car parking. This arose because the current rules had resulted in inadequate on-site parking being provided within the higher density residential areas. In general, high density residential development will see the car parking requirement double from one car park per unit to two.

For visitor accommodation carparking requirements have changed for all zones by providing new requirements for backpackers, and increasing parks required for unit style developments.

"This recognises that unit style apartments may have similar car parking demands as residential units, and ensures that if the property market changes the car parking is adequate to provide for either residential or visitor use," Ms Jones said.

The third Plan Change was for residential flats.

"This changes the definition of a residential flat to ensure that it is smaller than the residential unit. While this Plan Change amends a definition, which has effect across the whole district, it will have the greatest effect on the low density residential zone," Ms Jones said.

Once the Plan Changes were notified, the community was encouraged to provide comment through the submission process. Public information sessions would be held in Wanaka and Queenstown to explain and discuss the proposed new rules.

The council would be asked to adopt the Plan Changes at its meeting on September 30, with notification occurring next month.

ENDS

For further information please contact Vicki Jones 03 441 0499

By: Tamah