A developer wants the right to build an extra 500 houses at Jacks Point, potentially bumping its project up to 1800 homes.
RCL Queenstown argued at a hearing that rezoning its Jacks Point land for more intensive development would help address the shortage of housing in the Wakatipu.
''There has to be a developer ready to start development of housing. This is the case with the RCL land,'' RCL solicitor Mike Holm told the hearing.
The zoning for RCL's land allowed between 850 and 1300 houses.
The proposed Plan Change 44 would lift that to between 1124 and 1829.
Plan Change 44 - Hanley Downs, proposed by RCL Queenstown Pty Ltd, was subject to a hearing in late 2013, but adjourned early in proceedings due to issues over land ownership.
One of the key changes to the plan change since then was that it no longer proposed a new zone, but integrated the changes sought by RCL into the existing Jacks Point Residential Zone.
Mr Holm told the resumed hearing said the company considered applying to be a Special Housing Area, but that was ''not sufficiently flexible, certain or appropriate for a number of reasons''.
Commissioner Lyal Cocks questioned how the development would achieve objectives of affordable and community housing.
Mr Holm said a major driver of affordability was supply - development of RCL's land would increase the housing supply.
Further, a range of homes would be priced in the ''entry level'' bracket of under $500,000 and nothing would be priced over $700,000.
''There is a crucial housing shortage in the Wakatipu Basin which, in practical terms, will not be met by waiting for other residentially zoned land to be developed - or for so called `special housing areas' to be approved.
''Neither of these options, even in combination, have the potential to provide the range of housing made possible by PC44 as it applies to RCL land.
''It will provide for more new houses than all of the proposals for special housing areas recently reviewed by QLDC, only several of which were accepted for further review.''
Commissioners reserved their decision.
