At a recent meeting, the board considered an expression of interest from LandSAR Wanaka to lease a section of conservation land fronting Ballantyne Rd next to the Department of Conservation (Doc) Wanaka area office, with a view to erecting a building on the site within the next three to five years.
New Zealand Police has bought another section on the Ballantyne Rd reserve for the relocation of the existing Wanaka police station from Helwick St, where LandSAR Wanaka is based. However, LandSAR Wanaka spokesman Phil Melchior said long term there would not be adequate storage room at the proposed new police facilities, so the lease application was a "future-proofing" measure.
"While the police have been very good ... it's going to be really really tight for us in there [new station] and if anything should change going forward we could end up left without a home," Mr Melchior said.
The headquarters of LandSAR Wanaka would be the new police station, but a "very attractive and very eco-friendly building" would be constructed to act as "both a storage overflow and training and meeting facilities".
The group would need to fundraise for the building and get resource consent.
Conservation Board member Dr Jim Williams said at the recent meeting not all land held by Doc had particularly strong conservation values, such as the land being considered for LandSAR use, and it made sense for search and rescue volunteers to have their base alongside Doc and the police.
"This seems like a very sensible use for a piece of land not used much at all."
The board's advice to the department was that allowing the land to be used for search and rescue purposes was "good news".
A pre-hearing conference for an Environment Court appeal against the Wanaka police station's proposed relocation will be held next Wednesday in Queenstown.
