Developing a freedom camping bylaw for Queenstown Lakes is like "tiptoeing through tulips", a council manager says.
Speaking at a full council workshop yesterday, community services general manager Kenneth Bailey said the new bylaw had to be practical, enforceable and compliant with the Freedom Camping Act, but acceptable to the community at large.
Although the district could never "meet the tsunami of demand", it had to provide enough freedom camping spots without having to "lawyer up", Mr Bailey said.
The council has to replace its 2021 bylaw, which was declared invalid by the High Court last year, on a technicality, after a legal challenge by the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.
Consultation on a draft bylaw is set down for July and August, and the new bylaw is expected to be approved in October.
A report prepared for councillors said freedom camping in reserves was prohibited by the Reserves Act, but the ban could be lifted via ministerially delegated powers, as the council had done before for the Red Bridge reserve near Luggate.
Principal policy adviser Luke Place said making provision for freedom camping only on council land, effectively streets and car parking areas, had drawbacks.
Staff had identified 22 car parking areas in the district where freedom camping might be possible but, given only a portion of the parking spaces in each area would be made available for the activity, it could be confusing for freedom campers to understand what was allowed and "tricky" to manage.
Given those difficulties, and council officers’ "on-the-ground experience" from the past summer season, he recommended reserves be considered.
Another option was to draft reserve management plans to manage freedom camping on specific reserves around the district, Mr Place said.
Unlike the ministerial delegation approach, they could be managed under the Reserves Act instead of the permissive Freedom Camping Act regime.
Cr Gavin Bartlett said there were enough Department of Conservation camping sites for freedom campers to use, and preferred that reserves be "left as they are" as the law intended.
However, Cr Quentin Smith said allowing freedom camping on a small number of reserves would "spread the load" across the district without affecting nearby residents.
