Wanaka FEC plans stalled by Environment Court

A proposed Family Entertainment Centre (FEC) planned for a site opposite Wanaka Airport has been denied consent by New Zealand's Environment Court, despite a judge voting in favour of the development.

According to a report in the Otago Daily Times, environment commissioners John Mills and Heather McConachy upheld an appeal against a commercial amusement facility on what is deemed rural land.

The proposal, by businessman Ross Young, his wife Judith, and their son Eamon, was for an FEC featuring kart racing, bumper boats, tenpin bowling and a cafe.

While the commissioners held the majority judgement and, therefore, the ultimate decision of the court, Judge Jon Jackson took a dissenting view and recommended the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC)'s 2010 decision to grant resource consent for the development be confirmed.

At a five-day hearing last July, the court heard appeals against the QLDC decision by local residents likely to be affected by the development. The objectors said the proposal would adversely affect the rural experience of the area, largely because of its visibility and noise effects.

The objectors also expressed concerns that the FEC would set a precedent for further commercial development in the area.

While describing the July hearing as a "very tight case", Judge Jackson said that although the site was classified as being within a visual amenity landscape, it had "very few, if any, Arcadian or pastoral qualities, as those terms are used in the district plan", because of its low-quality pasture, power lines running through the site, adjacent roads, "ugly" pines on the property boundary and much larger commercial node (the airport and its buildings).

Judge Jackson said the proposal used a small piece of "nothing" land, and the minor adverse effects were appropriately mitigated by the landscape plan and conditions.

There would also be gains for at least 20 years from the applicant's volunteered covenant to keep and improve the open character of the remainder of the property, Judge Jackson said.

However, appeal commissioners Mills and McConachy found the size, scale and location of the entertainment complex was inappropriate in the visual amenity landscape and there was more appropriately zoned land nearby which could cater for the proposal, such as the Three Parks zone or the Windemere rural visitor zone across the road.

Mills and McConachy expressed the view that allowing the FEC proposal would "open the door for future like applications".