The Queenstown Lakes District Council is asking for community input to bring about changes in town centre noise management, the main question being: Should the CBD noise limit be increased?"
It's something we have been looking at for a while," council senior policy analyst Ralph Henderson said.
"A lot of bar owners and restaurateurs have had problems with it [noise restrictions], but we also have people concerned with the noise level in town."
As Queenstown continued to become busier, the background noise levels against which bars and restaurants were monitored had increased to a level often exceeding the limits for those establishments, Mr Henderson said.
"It's made it very difficult for it to be monitored and enforced - the current restriction level is such that it's hard to manage for noise control officers."
The six submissions received so far show strongly divided opinions over the issue, with half against any noise increase in the CBD.
One submitter said the town should be divided into two sections with "vomit and unnecessary noise and shouting" from backpackers limited to the north of Beach St and the stylish high-spenders further south.
"There's nothing worse than a head-banging underlying beat to everything you do," the submitter said.
"Ban it unless it doesn't travel."
Other submitters suggested that noise sensitive activities such as operating visitor accommodation and residential living could be remedied by moving somewhere else.
"If you're noise sensitive, move to a more appropriate location ... don't move into town and then start complaining," another said.
Many of the submitters called for more sound insulation for those causing the noise as well as the noise sensitive, with suggested compensation from either the council or the bars and restaurants.
Compared to 13 other New Zealand centres, Queenstown's 50dB average night-time noise limit is one of the most stringent.
Its maximum limit is the lowest of all these major centres.
Mr Henderson said it was a situation where not everyone would be able to be satisfied, but the council needed to know what the community wanted the town to look - and sound - like.
It was fair to say it was not going to turn the town centre into a party town, he said.
"It's trying to get a balance and see how we best can deal with the problem."
Submissions for the plan change opened just before Christmas and end on February 4, at which point more targeted consultation with affected parties will take place, followed by further consideration of how the district plan might change.
