Mayor Jim Boult and NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson spoke at a Property Council market outlook panel in the resort on Monday night, alongside ANZ property finance regional manager Andrew Weastell and Colliers International commercial broker Mary-Jo Hudson.
Referring to the Resource Management Act process, Mr Boult questioned whether some of Queenstown's big drawcards would get the green light today.
''You imagine if Hilton Hensman turned up in Queenstown now and wanted to put a gondola up the side of that mountain, or Harry Wigley wanted to put a skifield on Coronet Peak, or the Melhop brothers wanted to run jet-boats down the Shotover River, I bet they'd absolutely have a battle.''
Mr Boult also discussed the time it takes to get projects done in local government.
''In your businesses, if you want to do something you pop off and do it.
''In this business, man oh man - council's got to consult with everybody, and everybody has input and then you have to go through a public consultation process and then you have to go and talk to government, and then you have to talk the rest of the councillors into things,'' he said.
''I guess that has been my biggest surprise.''
Mr Anderson also expressed frustration with the process, following controversy over the Otago Regional Council granting consent for a Remarkables skifield extension on a protected wetland without notifying the public
Mr Anderson said a comment made by a ''junior staff member'' at the Department of Conservation, which was ''incorrect'', had led to problems down the track.
The council's regional science unit report said the project would mean the ''wetland itself will be lost forever'', and it had ''to be considered more than minor''.
''I guess it's an example where the resource consent process, and the Official Information Act (OIA) process can go wrong.
''Because even though the comment was incorrect, and it was picked up by the more senior people at ORC when they made the decision, which was 'you're not ruining it, you're modifying it, and by the way, this in the scheme of the whole thing is 130,000 square metres of wetlands just on the Remarkables ski area, let alone in the wider zone', but it just gets blown out of proportion.
''And now we're in a situation where any bureaucrat we're working with, be it Doc, ORC or QLDC, seems to be scared to make a decision due to OIAs and judicial reviews,'' Mr Anderson said.
