$385 million upgrade planned for Queenstown centre in next 35 years

Tuesday, 12 December 2017

A plan for a $385 million upgrade of Queenstown's town centre will be discussed this week.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council will consider four indicative business cases as part of the Town Centre Masterplan.

They include a bypass for the town centre, public transport upgrades and a new council building, all to be built over 35 years.

The long-awaited town centre arterial route from Melbourne St to the One Mile Roundabout, previously known as Inner Links, would cost about $140m and be completed in three stages.

*Arterial route around Queenstown centre and new council building included in master plan**

A new $41.5m council building would also be considered as the four existing buildings were 'no longer tenable'.

In an agenda item to councillors, general manager of corporate services Meaghan Miller said the council was paying $600,000 a year to lease offices on Church St and Shotover St.

However, that was only a part of the cost of working across four buildings.

'The cost to ratepayers, residents and visitors who in the course of their customer interactions with council are forced to walk or drive across town to obtain the appropriate council services can no doubt be counted in terms of time wasted and levels of frustration,' she said.

A Stanley St site has been short-listed as the preferred location for a combined council office and community heart, with the Ballarat St car park being identified as the preferred site for the council building.

Speaking about the public and passenger transport facilities, council manager of property and infrastructure Peter Hansby said new parking buildings, park and ride facilities and demand management system were included.

Proposed public and passenger transport facilities would cost almost $34m.

A new bus hub with up to eight bays on Stanley St would support the growth in bus services and forecast passenger increases.

More spaces for taxis, coaches and tourism operations in town were also proposed.

Planning for mass transit corridor options would be fast-tracked with light rail and high-capacity gondola operations possible.

To encourage the use of the lake transport, the council was planning to upgrade the wharf.

The Queenstown town centre would be made pedestrian friendly with improvements to walking and cycling routes and facilities for walkers.