Queenstown Lakes district councillors took only half an hour to clear the way for notification of plan change 50 - Queenstown town centre zone at a special meeting yesterday.
Submissions will close on October 10, with a hearing by independent commissioners set down for mid-November.
As well as the Lakeview site earmarked by the council for a $60 million convention centre, the rezoning covers five parcels of privately owned land between Lakeview and the existing CBD.
If approved, it would enable about 6500sq m of retail and commercial space and allow high-density residential development, visitor accommodation and public recreation space.
Among the reports considered by councillors were a series of photomontages showing high-rise buildings ranging from three to seven storeys tall.
The only councillor to oppose the motion, Simon Stamers-Smith, asked why all affected property owners had not been told about the proposed height limits, while Cr Ella Lawton said she had expected to see more information about the effects of future development such as increased traffic and noise.
However, council chief executive Adam Feeley said the reports presented to councillors were only an ''enabling plan''.
''There's nothing that will be done as a matter of course until there's a master plan developer in place who has had a discussion with the council about what it wants to do.''
The council general manager of planning and infra-jlstructure. Marc Bretherton. said some property owners responding to informal ''pre-consultation'' in July had raised the issue of building height, and changes had been made to the proposal as a result.
Remarkables Park developer Alastair Porter said the council had been ''honest'' to release photomontages showing the height and scale of possible development.
''At least the council is fronting up and saying they intend to radically alter the charm and character of the downtown, so it will be interesting to see how the community reacts.
''You don't have to be a landscape architect to figure out that if development goes ahead like this, the town's never going to look like it's looked largely for the past 100 years.''
CBD landlord Tony Butson said the photomontages were ''unbelievable''.
''The first impression is it's far too dominant. It dwarfs some of the iconic properties being developed in the CBD.''
