Lynmore plan 'well supported'
A proposed $10 million "supermarket-based neighbourhood centre" in Lynmore has been well supported by those who put in submissions on the development.
Submissions on the proposal closed on Tuesday with the vast majority of the 63 submissions received in favour of the development.
Rotorua developers Holmes Group applied for the resource consent to develop the more than $10 million centre which is expected to create almost 300 jobs.
Rotorua District Council team leader of resource consents Portia McKenzie said of the 63 submissions received, 48 were in support of the proposal.
A further five were in "conditional support" which meant they supported the proposal but with some changes.
She said most of those were around the issue of whether there should be a roundabout or traffic lights installed at the intersection of Iles and Te Ngae Rds.
Ten of the submissions opposed the development.
Mrs McKenzie said council staff would now check no further submissions had been received before reviewing them to see whether any further information was needed. A decision would then be made as to whether the application goes to a pre-hearing or straight to a hearing.
Mrs McKenzie said while it was difficult to give exact time frames the actual hearing would probably be held in the next three-to-four months.
The proposed centre, which would be known as Lynmore Junction, would include a supermarket, fast food outlet, medical centre, service station, other convenience retail as well as 379 car parks. The centre would create about 296 jobs.
The site, which was formerly Holmes Packaging, opposite the entrance to Iles Rd, was sold in 2000 and the site is leased to Sealed Air (New Zealand). Holmes Group managing director Ryan Holmes had said Sealed Air (New Zealand) was expanding its Hamilton site and there was a real risk the lease might not be renewed by the current tenants in September 2014 when their first term expired.
They had tried to attract other businesses but there had been no interest because of the economic conditions and the size of the site.
Holmes Group had applied for resource consent so it would be in a position to redevelop the site if necessary.
