On a stunning Arrowtown morning last week the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust held an intimate site blessing and ground breaking ceremony for the Tewa Banks housing development in Jopp St. If you'd like to know more about this project to build housing that local families and singles can afford to live in, read on – Julie Scott, executive officer of the Trust, has written this update for us:
Back in April 2019, Council resolved to transfer the 3.7ha Jopp St site across to the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT) for the purposes of developing affordable housing for local residents. The final step formalising the transfer was completed earlier this year, and in April we obtained Resource Consent for our 68-lot subdivision.
Following completion of a holistic sustainability review undertaken by external consultants, we’re now finalising further enhancements to the masterplan. These will increase the energy efficiency of the homes, and improve the overall sustainability of the development. One exciting feature will be ground source heating for the entire site. This innovative system will have a hugely positive impact on wellbeing and energy costs for our residents.
Key points which have influenced development design include:
- Based on a clear-cut recommendation from a QLDC Arborist, and Parks and Recreation officers, the large black poplars will be removed. These have been identified as being unsuitable alongside residential development.
- We have a Heads of Agreement in place with Arrowtown Golf Club, which includes provision for the realignment of the 15th hole, and creation of a reserve area in the SW corner which will mitigate ball strike into homes.
- We have a Heads of Agreement in place with the Arrowtown Choppers for them to use a small area (225m2) in the SW corner of the reserve as a tree nursery. This will enable them to carry on the vital work they do in removing wildings and restoring the land with natives.
- The former oxidation ponds were capped in the 1990s, and following soil tests is totally safe for development. We’ll have soil and environmental specialists monitoring and testing the site during construction to ensure that the quality meets national standards and any soil needing removal is appropriately dealt with.
- We’ll be constructing a mixture of 1, 2, 3 and 4-bed properties and allocating these under a range of housing programmes, including senior housing, public housing rental, affordable rentals, rent-to-buy and our award-winning assisted ownership model, the Secure Home programme.
- You can find out more about our programmes on our website, and we encourage anyone interested to register their interest via the website.
- House designs will be consistent with the surrounding neighbourhood. QLCHT has a goal of delivering aesthetically pleasing developments, which the Trust and our occupants will take pride in, but which will also enable the community as a whole to be proud of. We believe we achieved this with our Suffolk St development, and are committed to bringing the same design principles to Tewa Banks.
- We envisage the 1-bed senior housing units on the street front will be ideal for ensuring our older tenants feel connected with the rest of the community. The remainder of the households will be made up of working singles, couples and families.
- Because the land is coming from Council, we have agreed it will never be sold but will remain in QLCHT ownership in perpetuity. This means we are taking a very long term view to the quality of the homes we will build, and ensuring we create a smart, sustainable development which meets the needs of the residents for a sustained period.
- Traffic implications - as part of our due diligence, we engaged an independent consultant to undertake a traffic assessment. Their report noted that, overall, the proposed development can be supported from a traffic and transportation perspective. The development will have two entrances, Isabel Court will gain a give way sign and we will build a footpath along Jopp St to Centennial Ave, for the safety of residents (particularly school kids).
The following is a summary of programme milestones:
12 September 22 – arborists will start work on removal of various trees on the Golf Club side before moving on to QLCHTs side
Late September 2022 – earthworks contractors to mobilise
November 2022 – civil contractors to mobilise
Mid 2023 – building contractors to mobilise
We look forward to sharing more from Julie as the development progresses!