A car-stacking facility has been proposed for central Queenstown.
Erna and Antonius Spijkerbosch have applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for resource consent for a fully-automated, 37-vehicle"Puzzle Stacker'' on land they own in Hylton Pl.
Supplied by Auckland company ICloud Parking Solutions, the five-level stacker would be housed in an 11-metre-tall structure, on a 150sqm footprint, on a site between Queenstown Holiday Park Creeksyde, which the couple owns and operates, and Fresh Choice supermarket.
Mrs Spijkerbosch said they believed it would be the first of its type in New Zealand.
A facility in Hamilton used a different system, while a two-level stacker in the recently-opened Ramada Hotel, in Stanley St, was manually operated by a valet.
They began thinking about the venture after being approached by a property development company looking for staff parking, she said.
They also noticed many new developments in the Gorge Rd area, including a couple of hotels, were being consented with "fewer car parks provided than might be needed''.
They were confident there would be strong demand for the parks, and hoped to find an operator to lease all of them on an annual basis.
Although the cost of the facility had yet to be finalised, she expected it to be in the region of $1.5million.
All going well, she hoped it would be operating by next winter.
In the Spijkerboschs' application, consultant planner Ben Farrell said the building would be "largely hidden away from public spaces'', was set back from the street and screened by surrounding buildings and vegetation.
Although it would generate some traffic into the area, vehicle movements would be infrequent and ``indiscernible'' compared to those of the supermarket next door.
