In a report to Thursday's full council meeting infrastructure principal planner Denis Mander recommended the council consult on options to pedestrianise Beach St, between Camp St and Cow Lane.
If the council agrees, Mr Mander recommended results of the consultation be reported back to the council's December meeting, when a decision would be made whether to proceed with a trial, possibly as early as January and lasting for about nine months.
Mr Mander's report said the proposal had stemmed from DowntownQT's commercial strategy and was supported by the draft Queenstown town centre strategy.
DowntownQT's strategy was to address issues where pedestrian flow was being constrained.
But, Mr Mander said the proposal was ''unlikely to be met with universal approval from town centre businesses''.
The incorporated society's strategy noted stakeholders were ''divided on the need and benefit from pedestrianisation''.
''Traditional perspectives associate vehicles and parking proximity with commercial success.
''In some sectors this remains relevant, such as bulky goods, services and takeaway foods. However, changing consumer habits are challenging these legacy views,'' it said.
Upper Beach St had an average daily traffic count of about 2000 vehicles, including traffic from the one-way Cow Lane, which connected to Beach St via a Camp St entrance.
At present the area proposed for pedestrianisation contains a loading zone and four car parks.
To mitigate the loss of those, Mr Mander proposed five P15 spaces near the Cow Lane intersection with Beach St be converted to a loading zone, while a loading zone in lower Beach St - between Rees St and Shotover St - be converted to provide at least five new car parks.
Physical changes to the street, initially would be low cost, relying on the installation of bollards and signage at either end of the pedestrianised section.
''If the trial goes ahead there will be a need for good before trial/during trial monitoring of traffic (pedestrian and vehicular), business vitality and public/business sentiment.''
While the proposed closure would redistribute vehicles to other parts of the network, most likely Shotover St, ''this is unlikely to have any significant effect'', Mr Mander's report said.
If the council agreed to put the proposal out for consultation, part of that would include an option to defer the trial until after a planned refurbishment of two buildings within the proposed pedestrian zone, including Vudu Cafe.
That work is planned for 2016 and work would require construction vehicles on the street during the trial period.
