By Daisy Hudson for the Otago Daily Times
More than 300 people have had their say on controversial plans for a Queenstown housing development.
The Laurel Hills Special Housing Area would include 156 new houses, but many residents are opposed to the development. Photo: capix_arshad/ 123rf
The consultation period for the Laurel Hills Special Housing Area proposal ended yesterday, and 325 submissions had been received.
The proposal would involve 156 homes being built on 9.4ha of land along Ladies Mile.
It has fired up many residents of Shotover Country and Lake Hayes Estate.
The area's community association prepared a damning submission outlining potential impacts of the development.
The submission outlines a range of problems affecting the suburbs, which it says are already struggling under the weight of traffic congestion, overcrowding at Shotover Primary School and a lack of community facilities.
The association wants the council to decline the proposal, saying it is not an appropriate location.
"This is locating more dwellings in a satellite suburb where there are no local services available.''
Laurel Hills co-director Tim Allan has a different view.
He said business cases for transport funding were with the government at present and the "trigger point'' for that investment was new development in the area.
"Laurel Hills is actually part of the solution, not part of the problem.''
He believed Laurel Hills was getting "an undue amount of attention'' because it was adding a large number of houses in one hit, as opposed to the "death by 1000 cuts'' of ad hoc development.
- This story first appeared in the Otago Daily Times.