An application to build houses on over half a hectare of land on the western lower slopes of Mt Iron, beneath the walking track, is attracting a lot of attention.

Allenby Farms, which owns the 6974m2 lot, has submitted an application for a six lot subdivision with access off Rob Roy Lane. 

The land is currently zoned low density (suburban) residential, which allows this development, but the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) plans to rezone most of this area to rural, aligning it with an Environment Court decision regarding Mt Iron as an Outstanding Natural Feature (ONF). 

The QLDC confirmed in a statement to the Wanaka App: “That zoning remains in place until it is formally changed through a variation to the proposed district plan.”   

However, given the high level of public importance placed on Mt Iron and the Environment Court’s decision, the QLDC decided the Allenby Farms application should be publicly notified. 

A group of Rob Roy Lane residents has opposed the application, saying development on this site would be “grossly inappropriate”. 

“The Resource Management Act identifies the protection of outstanding natural features and landscapes from inappropriate subdivision, use, and development as matters of national importance,” spokesperson Tony Marsh said.

The proposed development area and ONF boundary. IMAGE: Supplied

He said the proposed development would involve earthworks and removal of vegetation up to 30 metres above the existing houses on the side of Mt Iron, with negative effects on the view of Mt Iron and on the natural environment.

“The view to Mt Iron which has been largely unchanged for the last 10 to 15 years will be irrevocably altered,” he said.

“We urge anyone in the community who shares our concern at further intrusion into the Mt Iron ONF to take the opportunity to make a submission,” he said.

The importance of an Outstanding Natural Feature (ONF)

Mt Iron, a glacial rock formation, is a defining feature in Wanaka’s landscape and notable for its indigenous biodiversity of kānuka woodland and its popular walking track. Large parts of the landform are identified as an ONF and as Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) in the Proposed District Plan (PDP), however residential building has been permitted on its northern and western slopes. 

Much of the lower slopes used to be owned and farmed under the name Allenby Farms but over the years have become residential suburbs.

In September 2019, the Environment Court deemed Mt Iron to be an ONF, allowing it protection from development which required the QLDC to reassess its zoning. 

Last month a QLDC planning and strategy committee agreed the parcel of land owned by Allenby Farms should be rezoned as rural land as a variation to the proposed district plan. It also recommended Wanaka’s Urban Growth Boundary should be amended to match the Mt Iron ONF line.

The variation would accurately identify land that is part of the ONF as Rural Zone, to achieve better alignment between the ONF, Significant Natural Areas (SNA) and zoning at Mt Iron ONF, the council report said. 

Timing for undertaking the variation has not yet been confirmed, but the council’s Planning and Strategy Committee recommended the zoning variation be endorsed by the full council meeting next week (Thursday October 8). 

Public Submissions

The Upper Clutha Environmental Society (UCES) has also opposed the application, saying: “the visual effects, amenity effects, effects on natural landscape values and cumulative effects of the development proposed, in the highly sensitive location it is proposed to be located within” will be significant and adverse.

The UCES said development has changed the character of Mt Iron. 

“Far too much development has been consented to on Mount Iron and Little Mount Iron in the past and this application represents yet another inappropriate intrusion into the landscape in this vicinity,” the UCES submission said.

Public submissions are open until October 8.