Motel proposal future uncertain

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 44, 21 April 1987, Page 3

Motel proposal future uncertain

The Planning Tribunal has decided that the proposed motel complex for the corner of Ti Kouka Place and Goldfinch Street would qualify for planning consent if specified amendments to the plans were made. Ohakune Borough Council had approved the proposal from applicants Lionel and Patricia West of Raetihi, but several owners of property in Ti Kouka Place had objected to the application. The amendments to the plans would mean cutting the number of units in the motel by two to 16. This would allow space for 2 1 offstreet car parks as opposed to 19 for the 18-unit motel. The units would have to be in four separate main buildings rather than one large main block and one smaller block. The tribunal said this would bring the development into harmony in terms of scale with the other buildings in the neighbourhood. The applicants could lodge amended plans with the council and the tribunal's registrar by 1 5 May. If

plans were not lodged by that date the appeals would be allowed, said Judge Turner of the planning tribunal. Patricia West said last week that they had not decided whether to lodge amended plans for the motel. The objections to the original proposal that were upheld were that the plans did not provide adequate parking for cars and buses and would cause traffic and parking problems in the Ti Kouka Place cul-de-sac and that the proposal was inappropriate in planning terms. Appellants pointed out that the proposal exceeded the density and coverage provisions for predominant uses and that the motel would not provide sufficient

off-street parking and the chalets in Ti Kouka Place already caused parking problems in winter. Judge Turner said the evidence satisfied the tribunal that during the ski season it was likely that there would be several more cars at the motel than units and that that was the time when the chalets opposite also created a demand for parking. "It is our judgement that what is proposed would in the circumstances be an over-intensive development of the property", said Judge Turner. If the West's lodge amended plans the council and the appellants h^ve one month from 1 5 May to make written submissions to the tribunal.