Silverlight Studios will be asked to consult a community liaison group, develop public walking tracks, and surrender plans to develop 35 rural lots on its land if draft conditions proposed by an expert consenting panel are accepted.

The panel considering the proposal for a film park near Wānaka has released its draft conditions, marking the second-to-last step before a decision is made on whether or not the film park can proceed.

Silverlight Studios’ plans to transform rural land near Wānaka Airport into a large-scale film park were revealed earlier this year and fast-tracked under special Covid-19 legislation.

The 45 pages of draft conditions include restrictions on a range of things from the park’s hours of operation to building heights, and from provision of walking and cycling paths to landscape planting. 

The conditions would allow the company to utilise the site for a wide range of activities including “film making and associated support activities, commercial activities including conference and entertainment hospitality facilities, retail, education and training related to the film industry, and film related tourism.”

This is in line with the original proposal from Silverlight Studios to create a development that would encompass studios, production offices, a film school, a screening theatre and an exhibition centre, as well as sets replicating famous sites like the River Seine and New York’s Central Park.

In order to proceed the draft conditions require that before the sound stage construction begins Silverlight Studios must surrender a previously approved consent for subdivision of the 332ha site into 35 rural lots.

Corbridge Estate, located off SH6, the site for the proposed film park. PHOTO: realestate.co.nz

During the construction building work can take place between 7.30am and 6.30pm Monday-Saturday, but none is allowed on Sundays or public holidays; when the film park is operational, film making and set construction within the sound stage lot can take place up to 24 hours per day, according to the draft conditions.

All parts of the park can operate seven days per week, although there are some restrictions on when certain activities can take place. Still, many can operate from 7am to midnight, and the areas with the highest number of restrictions on operation times (retail and tourism activities) can still operate from 8am to 10pm.

Limits on building heights are named in the draft conditions, with the sound stage the tallest permitted at 17m; and most of the other buildings permitted to be 12-14m tall.

There are also conditions on colour and cladding of buildings, an extensive landscaping plan, and limitations on the amount of sound and light which can be omitted during both construction and operational phases.

Under the draft conditions Silverlight Studios will also need to provide a public walking and cycling track running east to west through the site and extending east to Stevenson Road.

The draft conditions say an additional track, running north to south, may be required, and if it is not then Silverlight Studios will need to contribute $900,000+ GST toward the construction of two active transport links.

Another requirement in the draft conditions is for Silverlight Studios to establish a community liaison group with representatives from a range of local groups and others who have made submissions on the application, as a way to receive updates on construction and to provide a way for concerns to be reported and responded to by the company.

Silverlight Studios and other parties who made submissions on the film park application will have until next Thursday (November 18) to provide any comments on the draft conditions, and a final decision will be made by the expert consenting panel in due course.