A detailed and costly study of the Wakatipu Basin's landscapes is being done after landowners slammed the local council for not doing its homework before a district plan review.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has agreed to the study after being told its evidence to the plan's hearing panel was "not adequate''.
The panel said without careful assessment, further development could "irreversibly damage'' the basin's character and amenity.
Criticism of the proposed plan has echoes of a landmark Environment Court decision in 1999, which said the council's district plan had "completely inadequate'' planning protections, although that was about outstanding landscapes.
Hearings of rezoning requests across the basin have now been suspended and delays are possible to the notification of the proposed plan's second stage.
Several submitters to the proposed plan, notified last August, criticised its focus on agriculture, when "farming is barely practised in the Wakatipu'', which was "largely'' used for rural living.
Experienced planning lawyer Warwick Goldsmith, a consultant for Anderson Lloyd, said the usual starting point for a district plan review was a range of studies on matters like landscape and development capacity, to guide a hearings panel.
"It's fair to say there's been considerable criticism that prior to this district plan review the necessary homework hasn't been done, in terms of the Wakatipu Basin in particular.
"The fact the panel have called for a study supports that.''
Planning consultant Dan Wells, of John Edmonds and Associates, said further evidence was needed from the council about which areas of the Wakatipu were appropriate for further development.
"Landscape's going to be key in considering that. Where it ends up we don't know but it is quite a significant piece of work that they've committed to doing.''
In a July 1 memorandum, hearing panel chairman Denis Nugent called for a detailed study of the Wakatipu Basin floor.
The memorandum said the evidence before it was "not adequate'' and a 2014 report by landscape expert Dr Marion Read was only a "good start''.
"We are concerned that, without careful assessment, further development with the Wakatipu Basin has the potential to cumulatively and irreversibly damage the character and amenity values which attracts residents and other activities to the area.''
The study, at substantial cost to the council, would determine the basin's capacity for further development and "where it should be located and what form it should take''.
It would also touch on urban growth boundaries.
The results would determine the most appropriate method of managing development, which might give rise to a variation to the plan.
The council, through lawyers Simpson Grierson, agreed to the study a week later.
The council confirmed it was already intending to carry out such a study and said a variation might not be required.
Potential delays included a new council being sworn in after October's elections and any consultation and feedback needed.
Council staff also had a strong preference not to notify anything over the Christmas/New Year shutdown.
Council chief executive Mike Theelen's report to Thursday's council meeting said further studies or variations had the potential to delay hearings on rezoning in the Wakatipu Basin.
"This is likely to have a knock-on effect and delay the notification of stage two,'' the report said.
Cr Cath Gilmour, portfolio leader for planning and development, said she partially accepted criticism the council had not done its homework, saying it understood the landscape assessment was more solid than the panel did.
However, she said the primary problem was consented changes which had not happened yet, including consented building platforms not yet built on and fast-tracked special housing areas which have been proposed and accepted.
"There has been incremental change but that's going to change even more.''
All going well, the study should take six or seven months to complete, she said.
About 350 landowners across the district have asked for their properties to be rezoned, allowing more dense development.
