At yesterday’s full meeting of the Queenstown Lakes District Council, councillors agreed to put out for public consultation the proposal in which Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency would acquire parts of the golf course and the adjoining Queenstown Events Centre for State Highway 6 upgrades.
Waka Kotahi proposes the BP roundabout be enlarged and replaced with traffic signals, and a new intersection be created on the northern side of State Highway 6, and offsetting and splitting traffic at the Hansen Rd and events centre intersection.
Both intersections would have traffic signals.
The upgrades would require about 2493sqm of Queenstown Events Centre land, which is council-owned, and 8230sqm of Frankton Golf Centre land, which is Crown-owned through the Department of Conservation but managed by the council, to be disposed.
The disposal would mean the golf course would have to be modified. The first hole would be lost, the current ninth hole would have to be reconfigured and the putting green would need to be redesigned.
"I think we’re in for an absolute beating from the public when we take this proposal out for consultation," Cr Heath Copland said.
Councillors also expressed concern modifications to the golf course, as well as the fact it sits partly on land owned by Queenstown Airport Corporation, might contribute to an uncertain future for the facility.
While sport and recreation manager Simon Battrick assured the council interim measures were being undertaken to minimise the impact on the current golf course, "a number of decisions" would eventually have to be made around its future.
Cr Glyn Lewers said he was open-minded about the proposal but was concerned it was the "start of the end" of the Frankton Golf Centre.
"I’m also conscious as we fiddle with the existing structure of the golf course ... are we going to put money into something that in the end won’t be there? And we’ve compromised a future option because we’ve exhausted funds just to keep this going for the next five or six years ... "
Cr Craig Ferguson said he did not feel the council was working hard enough to protect a space that was important to the community.
"I do hold out hope that this course will survive in an acceptable state as we continue its ongoing game of chess."
A six-week formal consultation process on the proposal begins today.
All feedback received will be considered by a hearings panel, which will report back to the full council for a decision.
- Lucy Wormwald
