Lake Hāwea’s urban growth boundary will remain at Cemetery Road, despite there being a number of residential developments approved south of it.

The Hāwea Community Association identified Cemetery Road as the preferred boundary for the township back in 2015 and has fought against residential development outside the boundary. 

The decision to retain the boundary was approved by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) councillors this week as part of a raft of decisions on stage three of the Proposed District Plan (PDP).

Hāwea Community Association (HCA) chair Cherilyn Walthew said the decision was a “significant win” for the community.

The HCA has been outspoken in its concerns about inadequate infrastructure in the growing township, including ongoing problems with the existing wastewater treatment plant (which has been non-compliant for at least three years), the drinking water supply, and the future plans for wastewater.

The Hāwea Community Plan 2015 identified Cemetery Road as the community’s preferred urban boundary. PHOTO: Wanaka App

Cherilyn said the urban growth boundary decision gives the association “a chance to try and curb the rising cost of trying [to] establish infrastructure over a substantially bigger area”. 

Urban boundaries are a spatial tool to show the location and extent of urban development strategically provided for through the PDP, a council spokesperson told the Wanaka App.

While the boundary does not preclude development outside of it, its existence in the PDP “is taken into consideration when making any land use decisions,” a QLDC spokesperson said.

Universal Developments owner Lane Hocking (the developer of the Hāwea Special Housing Area) was one of three developers who made a submission to the PDP asking to extend the boundary to Domain Road, which would more than double the size of existing urban boundary.

An application to extend the urban growth boundary to Domain Road was rejected by a hearing panel. PHOTO: Supplied

Lane also argued that the area should be rezoned to either one, or a combination of, development zones including low, medium and/or high density residential, and a range of commercial zones.

However, the panel and councillors agreed that land south of Cemetery Road would remain zoned Rural.

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The Hāwea SHA has already been approved for development south of Cemetery Road, through the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act 2013. A further 90-lot subdivision at the west end (and south) of Cemetery Road is also under development. It was granted resource consent in 2008.

The decision to retain the Rural zone for the SHA site would not have any bearing on the SHA development proceeding as it has resource consent, a council spokesperson told the Wanaka App yesterday (Thursday March 18).