Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Francesca Rudkin: McDonald's read the room wrong trying to put a restaurant in Wānaka

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Francesca Rudkin: McDonald's read the room wrong trying to put a restaurant in Wānaka · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: While there is a Dominoes in a subway, but there
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: will be no McDonald's in Wonica, at least at the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: currently proposed site. Yesterday, commissioners declined to grant consent from
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: McDonald's restaurant, largely due to the location. So the proposed
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: location was at the edge of town where urban meets
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: rural living. It's regarded as outside the urban growth boundary
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: for Wonaco at one of the town's entrances, directly underneath
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the magnificent amount iron and McDonald's was deemed to be
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: at odds with rural living, the design of the building
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and surroundings not consistent with the landscape values of the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: site in its wider context. Commissioners considered reports and findings
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: about the architecture, noise, traffic, and future planning. Queenstown Lakes
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: District Council will opened the proposal for public submissions. There
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: are about three hundred and sixty seven may to t
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: One hundred and forty were very much opposed to the development.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Twenty one supported it. While there were some who would
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: have liked the opportunity for a big Mac for dinner,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: many locals thought it would increase traffic, drink driving litter,
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  Speaker 1: take business away from existing local businesses, stand out like
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: a saw thumb, and have a visual anesthetic impact on
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  Speaker 1: the town. Their issue was, was this really a fitting
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  Speaker 1: gateway for a town all about healthy living and environment,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: yogur and well being, ditching disposable coffee cups and slashing
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: waste or has the horse already bolted when it comes
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to Wanaka's image and culture. The town's population has increased
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: from ten thousand to eighteen thousand and a decade. It's
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: surrounded in subdivision development, and then there's the Three Parks
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  Speaker 1: development not too far down the road from the propos
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  Speaker 1: McDonald's site, which is home to a might attend Mega,
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  Speaker 1: a warehouse and numerous other outlets. Last night, Queenstown District
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  Speaker 1: Deputy Mayor queen And Smith told Andrew Dickins on news
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  Speaker 1: Talks he'd be the proposed setting and McDonald's wasn't a
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  Speaker 1: good fit.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: It may be parts of town where this activity might
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: be appropriate, and if this was within a commercial within
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: the town center or within a commercial zone within the town,
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  Speaker 2: I there say there's very little that anybody could do
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  Speaker 2: to stop that.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: McDonald's just get it wrong. Did they not read the
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: room being tucked away in the Three Parks development or
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the center of town might have made it easy to
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: gain consent, but would even that have been acceptable for locals?
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I say good on the folks of Wanica. Who doesn't
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: love a David and Goliath battle. There apparently over forty
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: one thousand McDonald's in the world. There's one about an
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: hour away from Wanicah. Does another small town need a
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: golden arch? I personally love rolling into New Zealand towns,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: exploring what's on offer, finding the best homemade pie, shout
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: out to Miles better Pies in Tiano, and having a
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: chat with locals. It's always good to get away from
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the familiar. Tourists don't visit a stunning place like Wanica
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: because it has a McDonald So it comes down to
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  Speaker 1: the community. If the community feel it doesn't reflect their
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: values for whatever reason, protecting the vista, their brand, local businesses,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: or just plain old snobbery, and I say, go for it,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: fight the fight, just like the magnificent I cord it did.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: For more from early edition with Ryan's Bridge. Listen live
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to News Talk said Be from five am weekdays, or
• 3:02
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