The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust is continuing its fight to develop affordable housing on the site of Arrowtown's old sewerage ponds.
In a letter to the Arrowtown School board of trustees, the housing trust says it is looking for support for the transfer of Queenstown Lakes District Council-owned land at Jopp St to the trust.
"QLCHT has a vision for the site to provide up to 70 warm, dry, affordable and secure homes for Arrowtown residents," the letter said.
The trust envisaged up to 70 affordable homes, with a mix of housing to accommodate families, individuals and the elderly through a "range of rental and assisted-ownership programmes".
Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said the development would make a "significant" difference to the area's affordable housing issues.
In November there were 483 people on the trust's list waiting for housing assistance.
"Seventy affordable houses is exactly what our district needs at this point in time," Mr Boult said.
He believed it would also be a "sensible" use of the 3.68ha total area of land.
In 1977 it was designated for sewage treatment works. The plant was decommissioned in 1995.
The housing trust has been trying to establish an affordable housing development on the site since about 2010 - that followed an Arrowtown community workshop in 2003 which found Jopp St would be suitable for residential development and, at that time, an initial proposal for 60 houses there received support from the town's residents.
In 2010, the trust said it wanted to develop 30 homes on the site, but that was ruled out after the council adopted Plan Change 29 - Arrowtown Boundary, which excluded the Jopp St site.
The decision on PC29 was appealed to the Environment Court, initially by several parties, but the appeal was ultimately rejected in 2013.
Trust executive officer Julie Scott said discussions with the council recently resumed again.
In the interim the trust had built a "fantastic" development at Suffolk St, comprising 10 homes which were completed in January 2016, and would love to do the same again.
The land at Jopp St was flat and sunny and being used at present for horse grazing which meant it was "completely underutilised", she said.
"We are crying out for affordable housing and the site could deliver this.
"There are very few other council-owned pieces of land like this.
"It's a natural extension of the town boundary and has been recommended by district plan review planners to be included in Arrowtown's Urban Growth Boundary.
"This is currently with the commissioners."
Cr Scott Stevens, of Arrowtown, said he was aware of the proposal and believed if the trust was successful in its endeavours to have the land transferred, whatever it did would be "well received".
