Should the council choose to proceed with an idea to include the indicative Ladies Mile master plan, which shows potential for more than 2800 residential units on the 136ha either side of State Highway 6 within its Special Housing Area lead policy, the proposal will be open for community feedback before the council makes its final decision.
The council proposes to include it as "category 2" land under the policy, meaning the council may consider development there.
The indicative master plan shows a desire for medium-high density housing, along with a mixed-use zone.
The land subject to the plan is owned by about 15 different parties. Those people had been briefed on the plan already.
Yesterday, Mr Boult told the Otago Daily Times that under the Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act the council did not have to consult the wider community, only directly affected parties, for example, neighbours.
"But we are all absolutely appreciative of the strong views that some parts of the community will have on Ladies Mile."
The final decision would not be a popularity vote. However, "we wouldn’t be going out to check the pulse of the public on the matter if we didn’t want to know what they [think], and we’ll genuinely take account of that and consider it."
He said the council was being driven by the Government’s desire for Wakatipu to have a sufficient housing supply to meet present, and future, needs of the community.
The greater driver, though, was "the need to find a way to house more people at a reasonable cost".
"The [Queenstown Lakes Community] Housing Trust has got something like 400 approved families on their waiting list looking for houses, so the balance is providing that housing that many, many people in the community want against the pressure of considering areas like Ladies Mile for development.
"But I’ve got to say to you at the outset, the discussion on Friday is about starting a process of consulting with the public, or residents, to get their feedback before we take it any further.
"There may be a desire, for example, to see some development take place there but not as intensive.
"Equally, what everybody has to remember is that the owner of the land could themselves go through the RMA [Resource Management Act] process and seek approval to develop ... This [the master plan] is one way to do it ... but there are others."
This morning’s council meeting will begin with public forum at 8am in the Gorge Rd council chambers.
