Early need for upmarket hotel

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 232, 23 February 1988, Page 27

Early need for upmarket hotel

Developers of the Hamlet site in Miro Street plan to put Ohakune firmly on the map as an "all year round i n 1 a n d resort". Their multi-million dollar hotel complex was approved recently at a town planning meeting held in Ohakune. Harvey Bell, representing the applicants H.G. and A.O. Bell, Taihape, said the site lends itself perfectly to an integrated resort development. The proposal is to develop a combination of houses, Swiss style chalets and luxury apartments together with a 200-bed hotel.

Incorporated in the hotel will be extensive sports and leisure facilities, a health and medical centre and conference facilities. "In short, we aim to offer the best facilities available between Wellington and Auckland to encourage travellers to stay regularly at The Hamlet," Mr Bell said. "Our aim is to create a demand throughout the year with a generous promotion budget for the whole area. "We have budgeted on a significant seven figure advertising and promotion spend for each of the five years the project is scheduled to take." Solicitor Mr Duncan Harvey said the area

desperately needed a tourist oriented hotel supplying quality accommodation and associated facilities. "Almost from the time the skifield opened foi business the need for an upmarket hotel complex was recognised," he said. Mr Harvey said the applicants wee earnest in their desire to fulfil the proposal. "They have spent in excess of $100,000 to bring the proposals to their present point. This application is not 'pie in the sky' material. The developers in spending the money they have to bring themselves to this point would hardly be here if they wee not in earnest," he said. Three objections were lodged. • T.B. and M.E. Leggatt objected on the grounds that it would constitute an over development of the site, inappropriate use for land zoned Residential A, and that the proposal was inappropriate when the District

Scheme was subject to [ review. They contended that attention was likely to be given to zoning of appropriate areas for intended use. None of [ the criteria of Section 74 constituting a specified departure could be satisfied by the application. • B.A. Wilde objected on the grounds that the proposal destroyed the integrity of the Town Plan by being incompatible with all objectives of the Residential A zone. • S.W. and E.C. Pakai objected on the grounds that buildings exceeding the m a x i m u m height would block their view of the mountain and also to the scheme as a whole if it will mean rates will rise to an extent that they would be priced out of the area. Commenting overall, Mr Harvey said there was an "encouraging lack of objections" to the proposal. "Even if council considered that the objections received to the

proposal were in isolation valid objections, we would argue that the benefit to the community outweighs any minority interest," he said. Mr Harvey said council could be forgiven for assuming that Leggatts' objection was "substantially a trade objection thinly disguised as a town planning objection." However the objection put forward by Mr and Mrs Pakai relating to the view restriction was accepted by the applicants. Mr Harvey said they were fully aware of the importance of mountain views to prospective customers. "It is only common sense that as the development proceeds and as buildings are erected, they will be planned in such a way as to ensure that any building does not obstruct the mountain view of previously erected buildings. Indeed it would be commercial suicide not to adhere to this principle," he said.