A land swap 13 years in the making could pave the way for a lucrative housing development on Queenstown Hill.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Department of Conservation (Doc) have reached a deal in which the council would exchange a 6ha site it owns above the Commonage Villas on Kerry Dr for 9ha of Crown land above Vancouver Dr.
To enable the swap, council contractor APL Property has applied for consent to slice a 9ha section off 70ha of wilding pine-infested Crown land zoned as recreation reserve.
The 9ha piece - most of which is zoned high density residential - would be reclassified from reserve to freehold, paving the way for residential development.
If the application is granted and a subdivision proceeds, it would be the 11th and final stage of the council's lucrative Commonage development.
The 1976 gift of 100 acres - about 40ha - of Crown land has been developed and sold over the years to to fund district water and sewerage schemes.
APL director Joanne Conroy told the Mountain Scene in 2013 she had been negotiating the land swap with Doc since 2002, with the chief sticking point being disagreement over the two site's relative values.
Ms Conroy was not available for immediate comment, but Doc statutory land management adviser Ken Stewart told the Otago Daily Times there were ''good reasons'' for the protracted negotiations.
Issues such as comparative land values, land areas and final boundaries had needed to be resolved, and the council had moved with more or less haste on the project at different times.
''It was just one of those things which took time - I don't think you can blame any party.''
Although the recreation reserve was owned by the Crown, the land swap was effectively a council transaction, with Doc's input limited to a ''process role'' on the Crown's behalf.
''We didn't drive the process, and we were neutral about the process, if you like.''
The land received by the Crown in the swap would be vested in the council to manage as a recreation reserve, he said.
