The development of a new retirement village at Northlake has been approved, but with conditions which may prove to be a sticking point for the developer.

Winton Properties Ltd’s plans for the retirement village were fast-tracked under the Covid-19 Recovery Act 2020. 

The company submitted plans for a 100-unit retirement village with a 36-bed private hospital (known as a ‘care pod’), a cafe, gym, swimming pool, and community centre.

The approval of the project, granted last Wednesday (August 4) is conditional on removing the top storey of the ‘care pod’ and creating easements to access Sticky Forest (including the provision for land for a legal access road to be vested in the Queenstown Lakes District Council). 

Earthworks on the Northbrook site. PHOTO: Wanaka App

Winton CEO Chris Meehan told the Wanaka App that while Winton welcomed the decision of the independent consenting panel to grant resource consent, the company “needs to consider the implications of removing one floor from the Care Pod”.

The panel found that the care pod “would be one of the largest buildings within Wanaka, located in a position where it would strikingly stand out of place to all that viewed it”, resulting in “substantially more than minor”, and therefore unacceptable, impacts.

While Winton expressed concern that the removal of one floor would affect the economic viability of the retirement village, the panel remained unconvinced.

The view from one of Sticky Forest’s many trails. PHOTO: Supplied

The issue of access to Sticky Forest was sparked by Environment Minister David Parker, who asked the panel to consider whether the retirement village project was “a legitimate opportunity to resolve access issues to landlocked Sticky Forest”.

Sticky Forest is an area of approximately 50 hectares of private forested land which contains a labyrinth of mountain biking tracks currently accessible to the public. The land is owned by about 1200 descendants of 57 original Maori grantees who were given the land as compensation.

The panel considered the matter, despite acknowledging the proposal was focused on an area with “no clear connection to future access for Sticky Forest”.

The retirement village is planned for 3.81 hectares of land adjacent to Outlet Road.

Te Arawhiti, the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) were among those who commented on the draft conditions

Winton volunteered a set of conditions on the basis it would not be prevented from exploring other development opportunities, which the panel accepted as a “satisfactory response” to the issue. 

The resource consent therefore includes a requirement to provide legal access to Sticky Forest through a private plan change to amend the Northlake Structure Plan, which must be lodged within six months, Chris Meehan said.

The panel said the pursuit of such a plan change shouldn’t prevent other possibilities for achieving access, for example, it encouraged QLDC to consider a roading connection to the Sticky Forest boundary when consent is sought for a street network on the remainder of Winton’s land. 

Winton spokesperson Sonya Fynmore told the Wanaka App in March the retirement village is expected to create 700 jobs during construction and an estimated 38 during operation.