A report, leaked to the Otago Daily Times yesterday after the council's full meeting in Wanaka, shows the council is considering constructing a floating four-storey parking building on Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown Bay.
When contacted for comment yesterday, the QLDC employee who tabled the report asked not to be named, and said staff were unable to comment on the report until noon today .
The report suggested the building - capable of holding 2000 cars - could be the perfect solution for a resort struggling to find any viable space to either construct another parking building, or land for another public car park.
"It is certainly an ambitious project, and it may be met with a degree of scepticism or hesitation by the community, but Queenstown has long been known for its ability to think outside the square when it comes to solving problems, and the parking issues in Queenstown will require some lateral thinking," the representative said.
The confidential report said an on-ramp would be built and anchored to Queenstown Bay off the existing Kawarau Jet jetty at the bottom of The Mall, while the off-ramp would run to the bottom of Church St.
The structure would be anchored, but the building would rise and fall with lake level fluctuations. A "sophisticated foundation consisting of various sensors and ballast tanks" would pump water in, out and around the building to counter changes in load distribution as the cars moved about. The four levels would be accessed by internal ramps.
The building would be constructed off-site and transported in pieces to the lake, where it would be assembled in "a relatively short period of time and could be ready by April 1, 2010".
"As far as I'm concerned, this is a win-win situation for Queenstown's resident population and visitors," the representative said.
• This is the ODT's annual April Fools' Day story
