Queenstown is the biggest threat facing Arrowtown, Arrowtown ward councillor Scott Stevens said.
Speaking following a two-day Shaping Our Future forum in the village, Mr Stevens said the 120 attendees over the two nights were asked what their ideal outcomes were for Arrowtown in 30 years.
One of those was for it to be referred to as ''a village as opposed to a town, and certainly not a subdivision of Queenstown'', Mr Stevens said.
''We had to name the biggest threat facing Arrowtown ... my answer was `Queenstown'. Qualifying that, it's also our biggest asset - our proximity to Queenstown.''
Mr Stevens said Arrowtown was under the same pressure as every other place in the district: to manage growth sustainably to ensure there were still opportunities for the next generation, without destroying its character and history.
''[With] all the pressure for growth, there's a lot of pressure from outside forces for Arrowtown to grow and we want to ensure that any growth is [managed] so that village atmosphere and that safety aspect is maintained.''
Also attending one of the forums were representatives of a planned retirement village, proposed by the Anderson and Monk families.
Mr Stevens said he felt that was ''warmly received'' and while there would almost certainly be opposition, that was unlikely to be at the same level as any purely residential proposal.
Shaping Our Future chairman David Kennedy said a task force would develop a recommendations paper to send to key stakeholders, councils and government departments.
That process could take about six months, he said.
