QLDC commissioners Gillian Macleod, of Queenstown, and Leigh Overton, of Wanaka, have recommended to the council in a report they completed on December 4 that the massive commercial, retail, and residential development be approved.
The report recommends that 100ha of land, to the southwest of Mt Iron and bounded by State Highway 84 - the main entrance to Wanaka, Ballantyne Rd, and Riverbank Rd be rezoned to allow for Three Parks.
Wanaka property developer Allan Dippie is behind the massive project.
His company Willowridge Developments plans to build the staged project during the next 10 to 20 years.
Mr Dippie declined to comment on the commissioners' recommendation until he had read their report.
Queenstown Lakes deputy mayor John S. Wilson said he had always supported "in principle" expansion into the area.
Wanaka Community Board chairman and Queenstown Lakes councillor Lyal Cocks said he supported the project and would vote for the plan change at tomorrow's full council meeting.
The report's recommendations had "addressed concerns of various submitters in a professional manner", but the outcome could never "make everyone happy", Mr Cocks said.
A key proviso of the commissioners' recommendation is that commercial development - paving the way for big box retailers - be scaled back and introduced in stages subject to "health checks" on Wanaka's existing town centre.
The timing of the development and also the "reverse considerations" to ensure that Wanaka's existing town centre was not undermined were important, Mr Wilson said.
Willowridge's original proposal had called for the plan change to provide 20.2ha of large-format retail stores, which the commissioners have reduced to 8.5ha.
A further 7.2ha has been set aside for expansion of the "commercial core" but can only be developed via another plan change.
Wanaka ward councillor, commissioner, and part-author of the report Mr Overton said his preference for the plan change was obvious from the recommendation.
Several amendments had been made to the original proposed plan change.
These were all based on evidence put forward by submitters during five days of hearings during September, in Wanaka.
Research into the Three Parks plan change had been ongoing since preliminary discussions - first put forward by Mr Dippie - during the council's 2020 community consultation programmes, in 2003, Mr Overton said.
"Health checks" on Wanaka's existing town centre will be made by the QLDC after each 10,000sq m of new retail development at Three Parks, the plan change report says.
More green space had been added, Mr Overton said.
The Low Density Residential zone had also been increased from a proposed 32.2ha to 39ha, and protected to ensure only residential, education and daycare facilities could be built.
