Another hurdle has been cleared to allow development of the last greenfields site within Queenstown's urban boundary.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has adopted an independent panel's recommendation to proceed with a proposed plan change to enable the development.
Independent commissioners John Matthews, Alan Watson and Ian Munro recommended the Frankton Flats plan change proceed, in a decision released after a public hearing last year.
At the council's meeting at Wanaka on Tuesday, Cr Mel Gazzard abstained from the vote citing objections to building height provisions in the proposed plan change.
The commissioners have made building height recommendations, ranging between 18.5m (two storeys) and 65m (six storeys), depending on what activity area they are in and how far away they are from the state highway.
The vote means the recommendation is now a formal council decision.
The council is a significant landowner in the area, so it appointed an independent panel of commissioners to hear submissions on the plan change.
The Frankton Flats plan change establishes an urban zone to provide for the future growth needs of Queenstown, within an urban boundary defined by the community at a 2020 consultation meeting several years ago.
The Frankton Flats area is bounded by the Queenstown Airport, State Highway 6, the Queenstown Events Centre and the Glenda Dr industrial area.
Issues with certain activity areas within the proposed structure plan have already been identified, such as the correction of the Queenstown Airport Corporation's outer control boundary, which may mean the plan change will be appealed.
Senior policy analyst Alyson Hutton said the budget set aside for the commissioners' hearing and their costs had "blown out" by at least $109,000 in two years.
She recommended any appeals be mediated "in-house" as far as possible to keep costs down.
Any Environment Court hearing was not anticipated before July next year at the earliest, she said.
