The "light touch" regional deal is in co-operation with the Queenstown Lakes District and the Otago Regional Councils. The deal will be presented to the Department of Internal Affairs tomorrow after the ORC agreed to it yesterday.
Central Otago District Council chief executive Peter Kelly said the deal had three main prongs: to build economic growth, build resilient and connected infrastructure and improve the supply of affordable, quality housing.
"If we get it right across this subregion then a lot of our region will stand to benefit."
Cr Stu Duncan, who said he was also a Queenstown ratepayer, questioned the relevance of the deal to Central Otago.
Water and agriculture were glaring omissions, he said.
"I struggle, when we represent such a massive area geographically which pretty much everyone flies over or drives through and our issues aren’t on that document."
Queenstown’s destination plan seemed to be a race to fill up the town, which was arguably against what Central Otago’s was, Cr Duncan said.
"Where do we stand as a council? There is nothing to stop big brother bullying little brother in those discussions ... If Queenstown decides a tourist levy is the way to go ... will we automatically be dragged into that debate?"
Council community vision group manager Dylan Rushbrook said part of the negotiations was that the councils differed on what should be included.
Cr Duncan questioned the point of the deal.
"If we differ on a lot of issues then why are we doing a deal at all?"
Mr Kelly said the government had made it clear in the past it would not negotiate with 67 councils but would consider a joint approach.
There had also been information received in the past 10 days that suggested negotiating a share of mining royalties could be in a regional deal, he said.
Cr Tracy Paterson said while she thought the details on the Queenstown proposals were anything but a light touch, the phrase was accurate in reference to agriculture in the document.
"I guess that meets the definition of light touch because it’s the tiniest little box right down in the corner. I don’t like that it’s ignored and that will have to be addressed if we get to negotiations."
Deputy mayor Neil Gillespie, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor Tamah Alley, echoed the view of most of the other councillors when he said it was important to be at the table even if they were not happy with what was on offer at present.
The Otago Regional Council also confirmed support yesterday for the regional deal proposal to be submitted to the government.
