The door could soon reopen for landowners and developers if an overhaul of special housing area (SHA) guidelines for Queenstown is approved tomorrow.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council froze work on SHA proposals seven weeks ago, instructing staff to review its lead policy for the activity.
Among the changes councillors will consider tomorrow are new location criteria. Land would be categorised as either suitable, potentially suitable or unsuitable for special housing.
In her report for councillors, senior policy planner Anita Vanstone said the Government's extension of SHA legislation had given the council a chance to rethink its strategy for increasing the district's housing supply.
Ms Vanstone said the recommended changes would better align its lead policy with the proposed district plan and the results of two other as-yet-unfinished projects: the Wakatipu Land Use Study and the Ladies Mile Masterplan.
In the near future, only proposals for land in the ''suitable'' category could be approved, as land in the other two categories could not be identified until early next year.
That could ''temporarily slow'' new housing, as no SHA proposals had been received for ''suitable'' category land apart from the council's own Gorge Rd SHA, she said.
The requirement for SHA proposals to be located ''within or adjacent to existing urban areas'' would be removed, but the council would have discretion to reject sites it deemed unsuitable.
The report also recommends the lead policy's scope be widened from the Wakatipu Basin to the entire district.
