A total area of 30,000sq m of retail floor space is proposed for the Three Parks plan change, with staged thresholds in place to provide for "health checks" of the existing Wanaka town centre.
Council commissioners Gillian Macleod, of Queenstown, and Leigh Overton, of Wanaka, expressed concerns about how a "health check" of the town centre would be determined, once development at Three Parks breached thresholds.
Three Parks is an ambitious residential, commercial, and retail development planned for 100ha of land on the outskirts of town, near Mount Iron, and bounded by the entrance to Wanaka (State Highway 84) and Ballantyne Rd.
Three Parks will be handled by Wanaka property developer Allan Dippie's company Willowridge Ltd, should the council plan change be ratified.
Commercial landowners in Wanaka could experience a drop in property prices and rental returns as the staged Three Parks development progresses, economic consultant Philip Donnelly, of Christchurch, told the commissioners.
Mr Donnelly was employed by the council to review an earlier council-commissioned report from Retail Consultancy Group, which "probably overstated" the required level of demand for retail floor space at Three Parks based on forecast population-growth figures for Wanaka.
The best approach was to enable the market to determine the appropriate supply of commercial space, while ensuring sufficient controls were in place to protect the existing town centre from being overwhelmed by trade competition, he said.
Three Parks was "likely to be highly beneficial in reducing inflationary pressure on commercial land prices and rents, and, through this, the price of goods and services to consumers".
Three Parks was likely to stimulate rather than suppress retail sales in the town centre, Mr Donnelly said.
Urban design consultant Kobus Mentz, of Melbourne, was also commissioned by the council, to critique design aspects of the proposed Three Parks, and he said the staged development was an inexpensive way to futureproof Wanaka.
"Don't be too scared of thinking 10, 15, or even 20 years into the future with this one," Mr Mentz told the commissioners.
Council policy planner Daniel Wells said commercial landowners could be adversely affected, but this had to be weighed against benefits for the "whole community".
Many submitters during the five-day hearing for Three Parks had focused on the "principle" of the development and questioned whether Wanaka "needed" a secondary town centre, he said.
The test for the commissioners was not one of "need", as it was accepted that Wanaka was going to expand; but rather one of suitability, he said.
