The decision on whether to allow a food outlet to operate from a kiosk housed in a public toilet block could prove to be Queenstown's snowstorm ahead of the Winter Festival.
With the Earnslaw Park toilets under construction and on schedule to open in time for Winter Festival revellers, the pressure is on the Queenstown Lakes District Council to consider whether a South American pastie stand should also be available st the site.
Yesterday, councillors Jude Battson and Lex Perkins conducted a hearing to consider the submissions.
Submissions on the council's intent to grant a lease to the Empanada Kitchen closed on March 15, with 57 submissions in support of the business venture to operate a pastie outlet from a 3sq m kiosk on the outside of the toilet block, and four in opposition.
Despite the overwhelming number of submissions in support, the only oral submissions Cr Perkins and Battson heard yesterday were against the proposal.
Former Queenstown mayor Warren Cooper strongly opposed a food outlet attached to public toilets, saying it was both not necessary and not intelligent and asked the councillors to deny ''this flight of fantasy''.
''If it starts, you are setting a precedent.''
The council heard three other submissions which all argued against the relationship between public toilets and a food outlet.
Submitter Bryce Whiting took issue with the pastie outlet's closing time of 10pm, saying it would cause problems within the park. He said
another business, such as a ticketing office, would be more suited to the space.
