The Lake Hāwea urban boundary will be extended to Domain Road - more than doubling the size of the existing urban area - after a long court battle between Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC), Universal Developments, Streat Developments, Otago Regional Council, and the Hāwea Community Association (HCA).

QLDC spokesperson Sam White confirmed the Hāwea boundary planning outcome was ratified by the Environment Court on Tuesday (May 30), which will “provide for additional urban growth for the district”.

The HCA identified Cemetery Road as the preferred boundary for the township in 2015 and has fought against residential development outside that boundary. 

Just a couple of years ago, in 2021, QLDC councillors approved the boundary - a spatial tool to show the location and extent of urban development strategically provided for through the Proposed District Plan (PDP) - as part of a raft of decisions on stage three of the PDP.

Read more: Lake Hāwea urban growth boundary confirmed

In response, Universal Developments owner Lane Hocking (the developer of Longview, the Hāwea Special Housing Area) and others sought to extend the township’s boundary to Domain Road.

Lane argued 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.

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

The once clear distinction between urban and rural land is a thing of the past. PHOTO: Supplied

The long-awaited Environment Court decision has occurred the same week QLDC announced it will consider a new Urban Intensification Variation, which if approved would allow for increased density and building height in parts of the district.

Read more: Council proposes major changes to urban density rules

Both the proposed Urban Intensification Variation and the Hāwea urban boundary extension would provide for significantly more urban growth in the Upper Clutha.

The Longview SHA to the south of Cemetery Road is well under construction. PHOTO: Wānaka App

HCA president Cherilyn Walthew told the Wānaka App this week the association did not want to comment on the Environment Court’s decision to extend the boundary but would “front up” to the community at a public meeting, tentatively scheduled for Sunday June 11.

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.