Council chief executive Mike Theelen said the move would require greater development, ultimately piling even more pressure on the town now and into the future.
He said getting to tier-one status was based on urban development rather than public transport funding, according to the National Policy Statement on Urban Development 2020.
"On this basis, we’re comfortable with QLDC’s current status as a tier-two authority and do not support the district becoming tier one, which would force even greater density on existing and future communities."
The stance put the district council at odds with the regional council, which at a meeting last week narrowly voted for a motion to push for the resort to be considered a tier-one centre.
If successful, that would unlock new levels of transport and other infrastructure funding.
The motion was raised by regional councillor Michael Laws, who criticised the district council’s decision not to support it as "ridiculous".
Mr Theelen said the district council may be interested in further dialogue with the regional council "if urban development and public transport funding can be separated" in any bid for tier-one consideration.
"We are seeking clarity on that from both ORC and Waka Kotahi NZ [Transport Agency]."
Cr Laws said he was "absolutely stunned" his motion was not unanimously supported, with five councillors voting "no" when he raised it at the regional council’s public and active transport committee last week.
He contended regional councillors did not understand they needed to lobby central government to get things done.
"The problem is, the Otago Regional Council has a history of simply not being political.
"The councillors are not politicians ... they don’t understand how the political process works."
Cr Laws said he was "surprised" Alexa Forbes, Queenstown’s only resident on the regional council, was one of the "no" voters.
"You don’t like cars, you don’t like fossil fuel, you’ve been extolling the virtues of public transport, all the things that tier-one funding would be able to get you," he said.
Cr Forbes said she "agrees with the sentiment" of the resort becoming a tier-one centre, but voted against the motion because the district council was not involved in the decision to raise it.
"We should not be making policy on the fly without those partners involved," Cr Forbes said.
"That’s why I opposed it."
