Queenstown Lakes District councillors voted last week to pass plan change 18 and clear the way for development to begin on a village, capable of housing up to 3500 residents and including about 1000 dwellings.
At the 2001 census, Cardrona's population was 66.
The 2006 census did not have figures which captured the township's existing population.
The new village will be located on 124ha of land at Mt Cardrona Station, on a terrace to the west and above the Cardrona Valley Rd, and bounded to the east by the Cardrona skifield access road.
The QLDC approached the landowners of Mt Cardrona Station - Auckland-based property developers Ross Hawkins and Tony Fountain - in 2005, about initiating a plan change at the site.
Mr Hawkins and Mr Fountain had plans and resource consent, at the time, to build a visitor accommodation lodge in a 15ha gully site near the Cardrona skifield access road entry, which is now included in the 124ha plan change area.
Speaking from Auckland, Mr Fountain told the Otago Daily Times yesterday that the approved plan change was "massive".
Mr Hawkins said any plans to begin construction were still a long way off, with scoping reports and design work still in their infancy.
The approved plan change was a "way better scenario" than the original rural visitor accommodation zone, which would have permitted their resort lodge The council's approval was "another step in the right direction" and put in place a 20-year structure plan, which would enable a village to evolve.
He cautioned against "too much" significance being apportioned to Mt Cardrona Station's involvement with the plan change and preferred to point to the QLDC's initiative and hard work in moving the plan through a rigorous process.
The plans for a new village at Cardrona grew out of the 2020 community workshop held by the QLDC in 2005, he said.
A new village would provide a boon to the local construction industry, once development and infrastructure plans firmed.
The current economic recession would not change "long-term" plans for any development of the area, but the directors were mindful of international financial pressures, Mr Hawkins said.
