A new subdivision has been proposed for a seven hectare site next to Puzzling World.

Owners Ranch Royale Estate Ltd have applied to create an 18-lot development with additional community facilities, including a pool and tennis court.

The site is off state highway 84, directly east of Puzzling World and north of Three Parks.

Locals may recognise the access to the site: the long, winding driveway with established trees next to Puzzling World. It was owned by the Skeggs family and used as a family farm for many years before Ranch Royale Estate Ltd purchased the property in 2016.

The property was purchased by Ranch Royale Estate Ltd in 2016 and they hope to ‘realise the potential’ of its new zoning under the Proposed District Plan.

C Hughes and Associates Ltd, surveyors for the property owners, said a recent zoning change had encouraged the owners to “realise the potential” of the property.

While the site is zoned Rural General under the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) Operative District Plan, under the decisions version of the Proposed District Plan the northern portion of the site is zoned Rural, with an associated Building Restriction Area and the southern portion is zoned Large Lot Residential A. 

The surveyors said the owners are applying to build on the area zoned Large Lot Residential A.

The proposed subdivision site is located next to Puzzling World and Three Parks, and accessed off state highway 84.

The proposed development would have a “plethora of positive effects,” applicants said, “not only in terms of establishing a unique, private and functional residential development that meets market demand, but also in terms of the improving visual amenity of the wider neighbourhood through well considered design, provision for visual screening and landscaping, and cohesive ongoing management of the currently under-utilised site.”

The site is located next to the multi-use Three Parks, which will feature residential development in the future, and it’s not far from the recently approved Mt Iron Junction development, which will include residential dwellings and a workers’ accommodation village, as well as commercial buildings.

The resource consent application for the development is currently being considered by Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC).

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