Further Submissions on Queenstown Lakes Proposed District Plan open tomorrow

The period for lodging further submissions on the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s Proposed District Plan opens tomorrow [Thursday].

The Council’s staff have been busy summarising over 850 submissions, raising just over 8,000 points, received in the initial submission period, and the summary with links to the full submissions will be available from tomorrow.

District Plan Manager Matthew Paetz said that the largest number of submissions were requests to rezone rural properties to enable more development. Other topics that attracted high levels of interest included the proposals relating to urban housing density, and mapping outstanding natural landscapes.

Mayor Vanessa van Uden said the Council was really pleased with the response received from all over the district. “We received a range of views about many of the Proposed Plan’s provisions showing a high level of interest from throughout the District. We encourage everyone to have a look and contact us to see if you qualify to make a further submission,” she said.

Reading through the submissions is not a job for the faint hearted – the printed version runs to 2200 pages and fills ten ringbinders. The summary is a condensed version of the key points raised in submissions. It comes with an index and anyone reading it online can search for topics or for submitters.

The Resource Management Act restricts the period for further submissions to a fortnight, and also puts limits on who can make further submissions.

Mr Paetz said that someone who neighboured a property that a submitter proposed to rezone would generally qualify to make a further submission. Because of the expected high level of interest in this area, particularly in rural locations, the Council has compiled a map indicating the broad areas where over 350 submitters have sought rural rezoning. However, anyone who has concerns about rezoning submissions should also refer to the submissions and summary of submissions document before making a further submission.

The summary of submissions will be on the Council’s website from Thursday www.qldc.govt.nz linked from the front page under “Consulting On”.

The map showing the location of requests for rural rezoning will also be available from Thursday.

Printed copies of the submissions and summary are in all QLDC libraries and offices around the district from Thursday.

Anyone needing clarification on whether they can make a further submission on the Proposed District Plan can contact a QLDC duty policy planner on 03 441 0499 Queenstown or 03 443 0024 Wanaka.

Further submissions close on 16 December.

ENDS

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