Arrowtown man fights against development, including The Hills golf course 140-apartment resort
For 30 years, the Arrowtown community has supported a rural greenbelt around the well-defined edges of the town, population 2800. The greenbelt has maintained the town’s village-like feel, but has also contributed to soaring house prices.
The current median value for a residential house in Arrowtown is about $1.8 million.
Now, Dunedin man David Hanan is fighting intensive development around his family’s cottage in Arrowtown.
Plans to subdivide sections along McDonnell Rd and next to the town’s boundary have been turned down in the Environment Court four times, and recently in the High Court, because they would reduce the greenbelt area.
In the meantime, the Arrowtown Lifestyle Retirement Village, which was approved under the Housing Accords and Special Housing Act, has started construction of 120 villas, 75 apartments and a 100-bed residential aged-care facility.
More recently, Hill successfully sought a special resort zone at The Hills golf course – allowing another 140 houses and apartments to be built.
Commissioners hearing the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s proposed district plan three years ago also allowed the rezoning of two blocks next to the town boundary for “lifestyle” development – large houses in 1-hectare blocks.
That would mean about eight houses on land owned by the Boxer-Hill Trust, Hill’s family trust, and 14 homes on another section owned by Guthrie and local real estate agent Richard Newman.
However, a man who owns a historic Arrowtown gold miner’s cottage is preparing an uphill fight against encroaching development.
Dave Hanan says planning laws mean he is the only person who can fight proposals by his high-profile neighbours – including Sir Michael Hill, former Serious Fraud Office head Adam Feeley, and developer John Guthrie – in the Environment Court.
They all wanted to build “mansions” on the fringes of Arrowtown, Hanan claimed, and he was trying to protect the town from “urban bleed”.
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