Six years after applying for resource consent, backers of Arrowtown’s contentious Olive Leaf building have lost an Environment Court appeal.
In 2020, the Olive Leaf Centre Trust appealed a decision by independent Queenstown commissioners which rejected its proposal for a multi-purpose parish and community centre on land beside the St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Hertford St.
After a week-long hearing in May, Judge Prudence Steven and commissioner Kathryn Edmonds released their decision last Monday.
It said the proposal would likely have significant adverse effects on the ‘‘openness and spaciousness’’ characteristic of the church’s heritage values, and on the church’s ‘‘primacy’’ on the site.
The proposal was contrary to the proposed district plan’s historic heritage provisions and the Arrowtown Residential Historic Management Zone, as well as being ‘‘overly complicated’’, the decision said.
Its design lacked ‘‘recognisable built form elements that draw on the historic character of the site and its context’’.
The building, designed by Queenstown architect Fred van Brandenburg, has divided opinion since its unveiling about seven years ago.
After the trust’s application was publicly notified in 2018, it attracted 368 submissions, with 218 in support and 150 opposed.
In 2020, independent planning commissioners said the design was ‘‘remarkable’’, but its scale, form and layout were inappropriate for the site and streetscape.
Van Brandenburg says the proposal’s supporters need time to consider a legal analysis of the decision and look at their options, which include appealing to the High Court or submitting a revised consent application.
‘‘The church needs a building here, and no one opposes that.
“When you look at this decision, it seems to be ‘you can’t do anything’.’’
Olive Leaf Centre Trust chair Colin Bellett says the decision’s ‘‘deeply disappointing’’ for the supporters, which include the parish council and the Catholic church’s diocese, clergy and bishop, as well as a large section of the community.
Among the parties opposing the appeal were the NoLeaf Incorporated Society and the Arrowtown Village Association.
NoLeaf chair Susan Rowley says she feels a mixture of relief and delight about the decision after a ‘‘very long, drawn-out process’’.
‘‘Having two decisions going against the proposal will mean, hopefully, the church will see this has to be the end of it.’’
Rowley, a St Patrick’s parishioner, says the issue’s not about whether the church needs a community centre, but the suitability of the only design that had been proposed.
