Local community groups have already put their hand up for a parcel of land next to Te Kura o Tititea Mount Aspiring College (MAC) which is set to return to council ownership.

Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) and the MAC Foundation (a charity that runs MAC’s boarding hostel) are proposing to lift an old covenant on an approximately 9,000sqm parcel and then split the land.

The covenant, originally placed when QLDC land was sold to the foundation for one dollar in the 1990s, meant that if the land was ever sold, QLDC would receive its value back. 

Removing it would allow the foundation to subdivide the property, fully own the hostel portion, and secure a mortgage for future development - while a smaller section of 3,241m2 with an existing house on it would return to QLDC ownership.

Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB) chair Simon Telfer said it was a “really pragmatic” solution to a tricky land ownership arrangement.

“We’ve got land near Plantation Road and the hostel that could have been tied up in perpetuity here,” he said. 

“It is a great piece of work.”

Multiple community groups had expressed interest in the lot QLDC would end up with, Simon said, and one of them presented at the WUCCB meeting where the land deal was discussed.

An Abbeyfield Wānaka Inc spokesperson presented the organisation’s vision for a local ‘Abbeyfield’ house - one which provides affordable, ‘family style’ accommodation for older residents.

The group plans to build a 14-unit home in Wānaka and it expects to fundraise the $4M-or-so build cost but needs support to acquire a piece of land to build it on. The spokesperson asked for support to transfer the new parcel to Abbeyfield Wānaka Inc.

Simon told him the board looked forward to “furthering the discussions”.

If the deal with the foundation goes ahead, QLDC’s lot will be accessible via Plantation Road.

The WUCCB endorsed the subdivision plan and its potential community benefits at last week’s meeting, but final approval will be up to the full council.

PHOTO: Wānaka App