Queenstown council applied for consent last week for the 168-space carpark, which will sit on a 6500sqm site above the James Clouston Memorial Park, near the corner of Hay and Man Streets.
Council media man Sam White says depending on how the consent process goes, the earliest the car park could open is February.
The application says it will have a mixture of paid public parks and private parks for construction workers.
It’s likely to be in use for between five and 10 years as the greater Lakeview site’s developed and the Ballarat Street carpark’s out of action.
CBD parking took a hit when the council closed the 120-space Ballarat St carpark in late July.
It’s being used as a depot for CBD infrastructure projects for the next three years.
More parking’s been lost as a result of ongoing town centre street upgrade work.
The council’s also put plans for a 240-space parking building on its Boundary Road carpark site on hold, possibly for good, because of higher-than-expected construction costs.
However, the Recreation Ground carpark reopened last Saturday with 72 spaces, while about 50 spaces on Park St, by Queenstown Gardens, are expected to be reinstated by December 18.
The Lakeview carpark, which will be sealed and landscaped, has three mature, protected Himalayan cedar trees close to its southern boundary.
The application says construction work will encroach on the trees’ root protection areas.
However, it will follow ‘‘good practice methodologies’’ and be supervised by an experienced arborist.
The effects on the protected trees will be ‘‘no more than minor’’.
