Niseko Property News

Two large Japanese companies, Nisshin LRD and ZEPHYR, have partnered up and are openly requesting an exception to the recently drafted building guidelines.

The guidelines were implemented in March of this year (see Niseko Property Guidelines) to regulate Hirafu area construction and development, with an eye towards managing growth in the Niseko Hirafu area. The most important aspect of the guidelines was the height restriction, although other factors were touched upon including building footprint and floor area ratios. Many supporters of the guidelines are happy about restraining laissez-faire growth, but others concerned about possibly slowing resort growth and the guideline's potentially negative effect on Niseko property values felt that their voices were ignored in the community consultation process that led up to the implementation of the guidelines.

If this new challenge to the integrity of the guidelines is succesful and an exception is made, two things will happen: 1) The guidelines, implemented after consultation with community stakeholders for the benefit of the resort and the community, will be weakened and 2) Charges of preferential treatment (and possibly even discrimination) will be leveled at the government, generating inevitable yet hard to quantify resentment between the government and its foreign cash cow. If the challenge is not successful, and the permits are ultimately not issued, the companies will shift their resources out of Niseko Hirafu, and Kutchan will lose out on spending and employment associated with the hotel's construction and operations. The stakes are large.

For their part, Nisshin and Zephyr are playing their cards well. They are appealing to Kutchan at a gut level with flow charts and flowing prose extrolling the economic and employment benefits to the community. They have made partners of respected local entities such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Kutchan Tourism Association. They are applying polite but firm pressure to the government.

A recent packet that Nisshin and Zephyr distributed widely in the business community in Kutchan includes a letter of greetings and introduction from the companies, pre-drafted letters to the mayor for gathering support (just sign and send!), a letter from the local chamber of commerce, and a presentation describing the project and outlining the economic benefits to the Niseko-Hirafu area.

Opposition to the hotel exception being granted is common among Niseko property developers and other community stakeholders, but organized opposition does not seem to have coalesced. Some are holding out hope that the Niseko Resort Board (Niseko Promotion Board), with a stated commitment to promoting the resort in a sustainable way, will take the lead in opposing the exception.

Niseko Real Estate News