A proposal to intensify Hāwea’s newly expanded urban area barely scraped through a vote by councillors last week and it has been criticised by the local community association.

Proponents say it is a win for affordable housing and well-planned development; opponents say it is too much change for a township already contending with a big expansion to its urban zone.

The Wānaka App takes a closer look at what the Urban Zoning Variation (UZV) could look like for Lake Hāwea South and how many new houses would it enable. 

How many new houses could the UZV enable?

Across all of Lake Hāwea South, the UZV would create capacity for around 1,600 additional dwellings.

Following a recent consent order by the Environment Court, the township’s urban area almost doubled, providing capacity for 2,040 new homes.

With the capacity enabled by the consent order and the UZV together, the capacity would increase to 3,667.

Construction of new homes at Lake Hāwea’s Longview subdivision.

This modelling takes into account all land zoned for housing without accounting for any constraints.

Separate ‘commercially feasible’ modelling (based on what is commercially viable considering costs, revenues, yields and uptake) expects fewer dwellings.

The ‘commercially feasible capacity’ would increase from 1,621 (following the consent order rezoning) to 2,894 residential units (if the UZV is approved) - meaning the UGV could add around 1,200 houses.

Height and density changes in the UZV

Those increases in capacity come from a few key changes proposed in the UZV.

Proposed changes to Lower Density Suburban Residential (LDSR) zones allow for a building height up to 8m in most cases and a maximum of one dwelling per 300m section.

In Medium Density Residential (MDR) zones, the proposal would allow heights of 11m (+ 1m for pitched roofs).

Location-specific provisions in Lake Hāwea South

Most of the UZV’s changes would apply to other parts of the district captured by the variation, but some location-specific provisions for Lake Hāwea South are proposed.

They include an area within Lake Hāwea South (area B in the structure plan) where land use densities and minimum lot sizes would stay at 800m2.

In the Lake Hāwea South Local Shopping Centre Zone, the proposal recommends building heights of up to 12m.

Where to next

The initial Urban Zoning Variation (UZV) was approved for notification for submissions by councillors at a meeting in June. 

It included the same changes to LDSR and MRZ district-wide, and proposed some rezoning in areas of central Wānaka and Three Parks from LDSR to MDR (plus others in Queenstown).

The UZV proposal, which now includes Lake Hāwea South, will be notified on Thursday 24 August and then open for public submissions.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App