Property owners and residents in a corner of Frankton have been warned of high levels of arsenic in road verges in the area.
Soil tests in a residential area west of the Remarkables Park shopping area in the past fortnight have revealed levels nearly four times the national standard for residential land in some cases.
Queenstown Lakes District Council general manager of planning and infrastructure Tony Avery said residents and landowners were informed by letter yesterday and a public information session would be held in the suburb this evening.
The council had been alerted to the issue by Remarkables Park Ltd, the developer of an early 1990s residential subdivision where the high levels had been found.
The subdivision covered the eastern side of Riverside Rd and encompassed Copper Beech Ave, Magnolia Pl, Juniper Pl and Elm Tree Ave.
Mr Avery said the company discovered the anomaly while carrying out routine testing on adjacent land earlier this year. It then tested soil at five road reserve sites within the subdivision before alerting the council.
The council then carried out its own soil tests at 50 sites on road reserves in the area. They had revealed arsenic levels exceeding 20mg per kg of soil at 23 sites. Levels ranged between 23mg/kg and 78mg/kg.
The National Environmental Standards (NES) for arsenic concentrations in soil were set in 2012 at 20mg per kg of soil for residential land and 80mg/kg for recreational areas.
The information would ''cause some concern'', Mr Avery said.
The council had been working with the medical officer of health, the Otago Regional Council and Remarkables Park to ''try and understand the nature of the risk''.
