Community support for Queenstown centre master plan, 300 submissions show
Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Almost 300 submissions have been made on the Queenstown Lakes District Council's future town centre vision and most are supportive
The 289 submissions were on the Queenstown Town Centre draft master plan.
An arterial road route to bypass the town centre, public transport facilities, parking, a new district council building and a 'community heart' are proposed in the plan.
It was proposed the Queenstown Memorial Centre would be demolished with the arterial route created through the site.
According to a council summary of the submissions there was a 'large amount' of feedback on the proposed demolition of the hall.
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'If it is determined through the detailed analysis already underway that a future town centre arterial is best placed through that site, we will determine how it will be replaced before any demolition is approved,' the summary says.
The council would work through whether it was the most appropriate alignment for the road.
Queenstown resident Clare Waddick supported the new road proposal.
'The Memorial [Centre] has its limitations anyway. It met the need at the time it was built but times have changed. As long as there is provision elsewhere for a new facility I don't think we can afford to get sentimental over this building,' she said.
However, Elisabet Streat wanted the building to stay.
'I do not agree with a new Memorial Centre as this one is meeting our demands, is within walking distance to town and holds significant value to our history,' she said in her feedback submission.
Instead of building a new office on Stanley St, she suggested council staff occupy the current Wakatipu High School buildings on Gorge Rd. A new school is under construction.
'Use your resources to upgrade the water and sewerage instead,' she said
There was a lot of support to shift from on-street to off-street parking but there was no 'silver bullet solution' to the town's parking woes, council spokesperson said.
'Things like improved public transport, better management of existing car-parking facilities, smarter use of technology to reduce circulation, multiple new parking buildings, potential park and ride facilities and local behaviour change, will provide the tools we need to significantly improve the parking situation in Queenstown.'
The feedback was mainly positive for $2 bus fares, which are due to begin in November.
In her submission Amy Baker said park and ride facilities should should be 'pushed' to tourist drivers and extended to a wider Queenstown area.
A park and ride facility on the southern side of the Kawarau Falls bridge could also be beneficial with plans to build 750 new houses in Kingston in the next ten years, plus housing developments at Jacks Point and Hanley's Farm.
'It would be prudent to provide a park and ride somewhere south of the bridge, near to Jacks Point,' she said.