Council to consider new parking buildings

The construction by 2025 of two parking buildings on Queenstown's fringes - or a 400-space facility built underneath the recreation ground - are among a raft of proposed fixes for the resort's increasingly clogged roads to be considered by councillors tomorrow.

An indicative business case prepared for the Queenstown Lakes District Council by Arrowtown-based consultants Rationale proposes the new facilities as part of a 10-year, $57 million programme to address the resort's parking woes.

The $43 million cost of the new buildings - at Lakeview and Boundary St or the recreation ground - could be funded and operated by a private company, the document says.

The new spaces would replace 300 on-street parks in the town centre or fringe that would be removed as part of a long-term strategy to relegate private cars to the bottom of the resort's transport hierarchy.

That hierarchy puts walking at the top, cycling second and public transport third. Nearly 900 parking spaces would be changed to further push commuters on to public transport.

In her report for councillors, project manager Gabrielle Tabron said the indicative business case was one of several projects feeding into the council's work on its town centre masterplan.

The final masterplan and detailed business cases for parking, public transport and town centre arterial routes were expected to go before councillors in December.

Other features of the 10-year proposal include improvements to existing car parks in Boundary St, Ballarat St, Stanley St and Warren Park, and the repurposing of parking in Athol St and Queenstown Gardens.

By 2045, another 170 on-street spaces would be removed and replaced by 700 off-street spaces: 350 in a new car park building in Ballarat St, and the remainder in a private car park building proposed by Skyline Enterprises as part of its $100 million gondola complex redevelopment.