Although Paradise has been discounted as a site for a United World College in New Zealand, there is still hope the Wakatipu district is in consideration.
With the aim to open the one of the prestigious schools in New Zealand by September 2012, promoters considered it would be too difficult to get consent for a site at Paradise.
But in a presentation to councillors at the Queenstown Lakes District Council meeting yesterday, NZUWC project director John Hilhorst said there was still a chance the school would be built in Wakatipu.
"It is in the short-list of three sites," Mr Hilhorst said.
He said the previous sites had fallen through because it had become clear there was little chance they would get a resource consent.
"We have reviewed 11 sites in this region," he told councillors.
There had been a lot of community support and five of the sites had been offered "for free" from developers.
"But even for free, the risk was too high, for various reasons."
There was still a site in Wanaka to be assessed, and he said the undisclosed location was a strong possibility.
His presentation had an enthusiastic response from councillors who wanted to support the project as much as possible, to raise Wakatipu's chances of being selected.
However, mayor Clive Geddes cautioned against full council endorsement because it could lead to a conflict of interests when the project tried for consents.
"Council needs to be careful what support it provides as a consenting authority," he said.
He suggested there could be a provision in the LTCCP [Long Term Council Community Plan] which identified educational institutions "such as the United World Colleges" as a priority.
The council could also help the college identify planning risks in the same way it did for other developments, he said.
