Guest accommodation definitions changing

Press, 31 January 1989, Page 15

Guest accommodation definitions changing

By ANABRIGHT HAY Guest accommodation definitions in the Christchurch City Scheme are being changed to reflect the new types of accommodation being offered in Christchurch.

At a planning tribunal hearing in Christchurch yesterday to classify the Chateau Blanc serviced apartments, a Christchurch lawyer, Mr David Palmer, said many of the old definitions of apartments, boarding houses and travelling accommodation no longer reflected the present situation. Christchurch City Council staff were rewriting the definitions section of the city’s District Scheme, he said. The Chateau Blanc complex on the corner of Kilmore and Montreal streets is in an RSA zone which contains a number of residential properties and disallows most commercial property use except boarding houses and ' hostels. Chateau Blanc is managed by Ashgrove Management Services, Ltd.

The manager of the company, Mr Peter Van Hout, said the complex had been built as an old people’s home of a special and rather high standard. There had been little demand for this type of accommodation in Christchurch, he said. The complex’s apartments now provided accommodation for business and family people who wanted an alternative to hotel-style accommodation. Counsel for Chateau Blanc, Ltd, Mr John Woodward, said the evidence presented left no doubt that Chateau Blanc, since its completion, has been used as a boarding house as defined by the Christchurch City District Scheme. Mr Woodward said the areas of the complex set aside for communal use distinguished it

from various types of travellers accommodation. Communal facilities included the dining room, lounge area, outside gardens and basement car parks. A boarding house is defined as a predominant use in the RSA zone. In the definition of travellers accommodation the emphasis appeared to be on the self-contained type of unit, Mr Woodward said. He said it was understandable that some of the. residents in the zone may have been concerned to read reports that the complex had applied for a restaurant licence. This had been sought in response to residents’ requests for liquor with the evening meal. The directors of Chateau Blanc wanted a restaurant-style licence but with sales restricted to bona fide residents. The application to

the Licensing Control Commission had been withdrawn, he said. The Inner City Operation Neighbourhood group (1.C.0.N.) yesterday withdrew its objection to Chateau Blanc’s classification as a boarding house. The chairman of the Planning Tribunal, Judge Skelton, said the tariff was a person tariff and not a room rate. Mr Van Hout presented information to show the complex was not being used in the same way as a hotel. The counsel for the Christchurch City Council, Mr Palmer, agreed that the complex fitted the definition of boarding house rather than travelling accommodation but stated that the top floor penthouses might best be classified as apartments.