The Queenstown Lakes District Council has announced it will turn its gravel car park at the corner of Ballarat and Stanley Sts into a "laydown area" to support construction of the town’s arterial road.
Property and infrastructure general manager Peter Hansby said the car park would close on August 2.
It will be used to store containers, aggregate stockpiles, materials and temporary construction offices until the first stage of the road, essentially linking State Highway 6A to Shotover St via Hallenstein St, is completed.
Construction starts on September 27.
The upper Ballarat St car park, immediately above the car park being closed by the council, was closed late last month to relocate an historic elm tree to Shotover Cemetery, to make way for the arterial road, and for geotechnical investigations to be done.
Mr Hansby said the "sheer scale" of the construction programme for the CBD street upgrades — which started in Beach St in February — and the arterial route, which will ultimately link Melbourne St to Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd, meant large areas were required to store materials and equipment.
"Finding space for this is exceptionally challenging due to the constrained nature of our town centre," he said.
Last week, the Wakatipu mountain biking community launched a last-ditch effort to save the internationally renowned Gorge Road Jump Park, which the council planned to demolish to make way for another laydown area.
Regarding the decision to close the council-owned Ballarat St park, Mr Hansby said the council "absolutely acknowledge this is an inconvenience" and recognised reduced access to parking, road closures and other disruptions "can be challenging".
"We’re working on options for temporary car parking in the town centre and keeping up close contact with our business community."
He said some alternative parking options were available, including council car parks in Boundary Rd and Church St, and many of the privately-owned facilities around the town centre were operating at less than capacity.
Additionally, the Queenstown Recreation Ground car park was expected to reopen in October and 40 car parks would be reinstated there.
The council was also working to improve the bus service, Mr Hansby said.
It was developing a "travel plan" for its staff to consider alternative ways to travel to the CBD and Mr Hansby suggested other larger businesses in Queenstown consider doing the same.
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A good thing they've got much fewer tourists in town isn't it.
Really poor planning by council and road builders taking the easiest and cheapest option. Just close carparks and recreational facilities rather than develop real options.