Arrowtown’s controversial Olive Leaf design for its Catholic Parish Centre is now no more than an idea that stirred significant interest and controversy. For eight years the Olive Leaf Centre Trust has tried to gain resource consent for the design but to no avail, says Trust chairman Colin Bellett. The plan to build the Centre Read more
The backers of the contentious Olive Leaf parish building proposed for Arrowtown have lost an Environment Court appeal, six years after applying for resource consent. The Olive Leaf Centre Trust appealed a decision by independent planning commissioners in 2020 turning down its proposal for a multipurpose parish and community centre on land beside the St Read more
A planned olive leaf-shaped parish centre in Arrowtown has been rejected by council commissioners. After a public hearing, Queenstown Lakes District Council commissioners found the “Olive Leaf” building, which would double as a community centre, was a remarkable design and made some positive contributions to heritage character in the town. It would also have positive Read more
A proposed design for an Olive Leaf Church – so named because of its shape – has been rejected. The controversial design by Central Otago architect Fred Van Brandenburg will be decided by the public in May. The proposal has split the Central Otago town of Arrowtown, attracting 369 submissions last year. One-hundred-and-fifty opposed the Read more
Nearly 60% of submissions on a proposal to build a contemporary building next to Arrowtown’s St Patrick’s Catholic Church favour the project. By last Friday’s deadline, the Queenstown Lakes District Council received 362 submissions on the resource consent application for the Olive Leaf Centre project. Of those, 214 were in support, one indicated qualified support Read more
After nearly three years of design, planning and consultation, an application has been lodged with the Queenstown Lakes District Council for consent to build a parish and community centre on land adjacent to the historic St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Arrowtown. Already the project has created considerable national and international interest and offers of support. Read more
The olive leaf is a symbol of reconciliation, but a planned building inspired by its shape has divided opinion in the historic gold-mining town of Arrowtown. Queenstown architect Fred van Brandenburg first mooted the Olive Leaf – a multi-use parish centre situated beside the heritage-listed St Patrick’s Catholic Church – in 2015. It has the Read more
Queenstown’s only Dominican sister is leaving, 133 years after members of the religious order first arrived in the town. Sr Mary Anna Beard, OP, leaves for new pastures on Saturday, reported the Otago Daily Times. “There is a sadness in our presence not being here, but the people will carry this charism on,” Sr Mary Read more
Just three weeks after the High Court threw out a challenge against consent for a new Arrowtown Catholic school on Speargrass Flat Rd, near Arrowtown, three remaining parties want to take the case to the Court of Appeal. Ayrburn Farm Estates Ltd, consulting engineer James Hadley and Rebecca Lucas, as trustees of the Millhouse Trust, Read more
An Arrowtown residents’ appeal against an Environment Court decision which permits St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School to build in Arrowtown has been rejected by High Court Justice Christine French, in a judgment released on Friday last. The Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Reverend Colin Campbell, purchased a property on Speargrass Flat Road, Arrowtown, in 2006. Read more