Auckland developers chosen to bid for contentious central Queenstown land
Cental Queenstown's contentious Lakeview camp ground will be developed by a consortium led by Auckland-based Augusta Capital.
Stock Exchange-listed Augusta in partnership with Melbourne developer Ninety Four Feet, and Britomart Hospitality Group will negotiate a development agreement after being chosen as the favoured bidder.
Lakeview on Man St is the largest remaining development site in central Queenstown, and for more than a decade the Queenstown Lakes District Council has been criticised for failing to make it available for cheap housing in one of the country's most expensive residential markets.
Our City Tomorrow: A Spatial Plan for Wellington City
City councillors are bracing themselves for a "nimby" backlash as a major plan to find space for 80,000 more Wellingtonians to live goes out for public consultation.
Councillors voted unanimously this week for their spatial plan to go out for feedback.
The plan involves a series of "tough" trade-offs that some councillors fear could spark a "not-in-my-backyard" backlash similar to previous debates around urban intensification.
Plans will be easier to prepare, use and understand under the Resource Management Act (RMA) with the release of new National Planning Standards.
Environment Minister David Parker said the move would reduce compliance costs and address criticisms that RMA plans are unduly complex.
“Standardising the format of local government plans made under the RMA and the definitions used in them is a step forward,” David Parker said at the New Zealand Planning Institute’s Conference today.