The Waitaki District Council has given in-principle support to building a major retirement village in Oamaru.
The $12 million to $15 million village is proposed for an eight hectare site on a hill above the North Otago town's former hospital.
It would be built by the council-owned company that runs Oamaru's new hospital, Waitaki District Health Services, and run by two new council-controlled organisations.
The retirement village's first stage would contain 33 villas and apartments, and 40 rest home beds.
Council chief executive Michael Ross says the project is very signficant.
"Potentially it's 70 fulltime jobs working in the facility. Obviously, there's a lot of construction work which is going to happen around the whole project. So I would say it's a reasonably significant economic development opportunity for the district and is meeting a clear need."
A special meeting of the council on Tuesday afternoon decided unanimously to support the plans, and put them out for public consultation for a month, starting on Wednesday.
