The Mt Iron Junction application for a mixed-use development at the intersection of the Wanaka-Luggate highway (SH84) and the Albert Town-Lake Hawea Road (SH6) has been refused.

In a decision announced on Monday (April 7) independent commissioners Ian Munro, Jane Taylor and Jane Sinclair refused consent for the development, which included a service station with car-wash and laundromat, workers’ accommodation, terrace housing, a childcare centre and a mini golf facility.

The proposal by the applicant, Mt Iron Junction Ltd, which also included a potential second stage with motel units and a commercial precinct, was for a “non-complying activity” on 5.83ha of land zoned rural.

The development attracted 36 written submissions last year with 25 in support and seven opposed, and a public hearing was held in Wanaka in mid-February in which the commissioners listened to views for and against the proposal.

According to the decision, under the Resource Management Act the commissioners need to be satisfied that the proposal was not contrary to the relevant district plans’ objectives and policies (both operative and proposed plans) and its adverse effects must be no more than minor. 

In both respects, the commissioners’ chair Ian Munro said, the proposal failed to meet these requirements for non-complying activities.

“...the proposal was contrary to the objectives and policies of the PDP (Proposed District Plan) because it is for urban development outside of the identified urban growth boundary [and] ...the proposal will have adverse effects that are more than minor”, Ian said.

The cumulative “adverse landscape, visual and character (amenity) effects of this prominent urban-intensity development in what is a predominantly rural locality will be more than minor”, he said.

The commissioners believed the intensity and “use” effects of the proposed new commercial centre would draw a large volume of customers and visitors to the junction “in a way that will exacerbate the very urban nature of the activity in this predominantly rural setting, he said.

Ian said the commissioners acknowledged the applicant’s many efforts to mitigate the adverse effects likely and the other positive effects that were explained at the hearing.

“We also acknowledge the submissions made in support of the proposal and the worker accommodation aspect that is a very pressing community issue in Wanaka,” he said. 

Mt Iron Junction Ltd directors are local businessman Steve Shikker and Peter Green of Christchurch. Steve said the decision was very disappointing and he will be considering his options, including lodging an appeal with the Environment Court.

The proposal endeavoured to satisfy the needs of the community, particularly in respect to worker accommodation, Steve said. “We have been hugely encouraged by the community support for this project throughout this process.”

“This is especially disappointing as our initial advice from Queenstown Lakes District Council was to pursue a resource consent application rather than a plan change,” he said. “Now we have the interesting situation of an isolated piece of land within a rural zoning that has no economic rural value….”

The New Zealand Transport Agency announced in early February that a double-lane roundabout has been included in its current programme for funding due to the heightened safety risk associated with increased traffic growth at that busy SH6/SH84 intersection.   

PHOTO: Wanaka App