A sale by tender’s been advertised for a 1.375-hectare site on Ladies Mile highway adjacent to the proposed Howards Dr intersection upgrade.
The land and buildings are occupied by Ladies Mile Pet Lodge, which couple Keri and Roland Lemaire-Sicre have owned for about 25 years.
Keri wouldn’t comment to Mountain Scene this week, however the couple have formerly made it clear they couldn’t continue operating if they were surrounded by intensive commercial and residential development.
The ad states the property’s been rezoned commercial and been identified as a supermarket site in the proposed district plan.
Consented to board 40 cats and 29 dogs, the pet lodge has previously enjoyed a rural general zoning which had very few restrictions on how they operated.
Neighbouring properties, including the Queenstown Country Club retirement village opposite, even have covenants preventing those living there from complaining about barkingdogs.
In 2023, Keri told Scene a zone change would likely remove the lodge’s “historical rights” and require dogs to be silenced.
That would be “horrific” for their business — “I will not incorporate anything like a barking collar to inhibit the expression of my dogs”.
Keri’s also stated there’d be no other Whakatipu location they could relocate to.
The tender, being handled by Todd & Walker Law’s Graeme Todd, closes February 28.
