And the council may also need to consider investing in a proposed Alexandra retirement village if a private partner cannot be found, those attending a recent Alexandra, Clyde and Districts Business Group meeting heard.
The business group is encouraging its members to make submissions on the reviews of the council's district plan and long-term plan, saying in a group advisory: ''This year is an important year in the development of our area''.
It is holding a series of talks to discuss ideas on ''where we are headed in the Alexandra, Clyde and Omakau areas''. Last week businessmen Rory McLellan, Russell Ibbotson and Peter Hishon gave presentations to the group.
Mr Ibbotson, who has been involved with various subdivisions, said it was important to ''make hay while the sun shines'' and capitalise on the current high demand for sections in the Alexandra region.
He said it was vital to recognise the importance of the building industry to the Central Otago economy, and the Alexandra region was ''suffering at present'' because of a lack of sections.
He wanted the council to consider rezoning areas to allow residential development, and also to reconsider subdivision rules, for example by allowing smaller lot sizes in rural areas.
Mr Ibbotson said growth in Clyde was particularly strong at present and Clyde was almost becoming ''a mini Arrowtown''.
But he said empty retail spaces in Alexandra were a problem, and council and businesses should be trying to fix the problem.
Mr McLellan, who owns McLellans Plumbing and Heating, said he had ''a lot of'' confidence in the Alexandra region and that had prompted the expansion of his business. He was ''almost struggling'' to keep up with growth at present, and finding it hard to get staff.
He is now progressing an idea to develop a miner's village at the Clutha River end of Tarbert St, and also to develop an area for self-contained camper vans at the end of Tarbert St, beside the old bridge piers.
Mr Hishon, who is a real estate agent and part of the Leaning Rock Village Inc group investigating an Alexandra retirement village, said the growth in Alexandra had given him the confidence to recently open his own real estate business.
He said it was good to have growth, but vital to manage it.
''It's important not to have growth for growth's sake. We need to manage it. For example, we don't want houses built all the way [from Alexandra] to Clyde ... we've got to preserve the reasons why people come here. Yes we want growth - we want our kids back here with jobs at some stage - but at what cost? We have to be careful.''
He encouraged the development of greenways and cycleways around subdivisions.
Mr Hishon also said the proposed Alexandra retirement village was important for the region, and the council may need to consider investing in it if ''one of the large players'' could not be secured as a private partner for the development.
''The biggest headache is going to be the funding ... We may be faced with doing our own thing ... We need to ask does the ratepayer want to own it? It would be ... [much] cheaper to spread over ratepayers, and it would also ensure that we get it [the retirement village]''.
A draft of the proposed reviewed CODC district plan is expected to be ready for public consultation by the end of the year.
