Quentin Smith: Wānaka deputy mayor on the council rejecting proposed McDonald’s restaurant

A McFlurry of controversy is over in Wānaka - with a proposal for the region's first-ever McDonald's declined.

The District Council has turned the fast food giant's resource application down after strong pushback from locals concerned about food waste and pollution.

It planned a 450-metre site by the Mount Iron Roundabout.

Deputy mayor Quentin Smith says in the proposed setting - McDonald's wasn't a good fit.

He explained if McDonald's had wanted to set up in the town centre or a commercial zone, it's likely little could be done to stop it.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dickens, it's five twenty. It's a big story. There will
be no McDonald's and Wonica, at least not anytime soon.
The fast food giants consent application has been declined by commissioners.
They said the proposed development will be at odds with
the town's rural living, environment and activities. Three hundred and

(00:22):
sixty seven public submissions were made, most of them against
the McDonald's. Quentin Smith is Queenstown Lakes District Deputy mayor
and a Wonica local.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, Quentin Good here a you're going good?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Are you four? Or against? Well?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Look at you take a side? But I think that
you know from counsels suspected it from from planning. This
was the discussion about location, probably not so much about
fast food.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Is Wonica still really rural living?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Well? What parts of it are? And this is the
point that, like A said before, there may be parts
of town where this activity might be appropriate. And if
this was within a commercial within the town center or
within a commercial zone within the town, I there say
there's very little that any anybody could do to stop that.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Was it within one hundred meters of a major team
mega or warehouse in the New World.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
No not within one hundred meters, but it's not too
far away. But it is right on the right, on
the intersection and the edge of town.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
It's not okay, I didn't, Okay, I have a measure.
I'll tell you. I'll it's right beside Mount Iron. It's
right beside the intersection. You go down the intersection to
three parks, maybe it's two hundred and fifty meters and
then there's a whole lot of concrete car parks. So
what's wrong with that place for a for a mcde's.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Well, look, that's not for me to determine. But the zoning.
You know that the planning assessment is based on the
zoning that it currently is. And the Polish isn't objective
of this district plan and the commissioners found that that
was instant. Look if it was on a directly next
to my mile at ten and it was on a
commercial land, that assessment would be new to be made.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Have McDonald's been told that that if they moved there
so they will probably get consent?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, look, I think that's pretty obvious to any professional
planner that abused that that if they complied with the
zone rules and a commercial zone they wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Are you still with me or have you disappeared off
for a burger?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
No? Not, I am here, I am here.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh good god, you just actually dropped off a little bit. Sorry,
that's okay, It's okay, okay. So it's all about proposed
mitigation measures. People who complained about it said all the
planting and the bounding aren't enough, and the building and
the signage and the lighting in the parking areas, and
they do not align with the communities objective to protect
and enhance our natural landscapes. Would they bang on with

(02:52):
that or are they wrong?

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Well, look, traditionally in the rural zone, if there is
an activity, even a house or that would be set
back from the road and they would use earth mounting
and planting or something like that to mitigate the impact.
It's fair to say that the McDonald's prototyle was hard
against the road boundary and very little mitigation in place.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, Quentin, your phone line sterile. I'm afraid you
should actually invest actually in rural phones and phone networks
down there. So I'm going to leave it there. But
Quentin Smith is the Deputy mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District.
And the claim is made if they had a different site,
perhaps they might get some approval. What do you think.

(03:34):
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