At yesterday’s full Queenstown Lakes District Council meeting in Queenstown, Mayor Jim Boult recognised the matter had "engendered significant public interest" and had been the subject of questions by councillors.
While Crs Penny Clark and Scott Stevens were in favour of progressing with the proposal yesterday, others felt less comfortable — including Mr Boult.
"Ten years ago, if you had suggested to me that we were going to consider developing the northern side of Ladies Mile, I would have been surprised that the community would even consider this," Mr Boult said.
"I have to be honest and say that it still gives me concern and I don’t have my head around developing ... along Ladies Mile at this point."
Mr Boult said he wanted more information on what developers would contribute to the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust if the 136ha was included as category 2 land in the lead policy, and for council staff to talk to landowners about mechanisms to ensure developments remained at affordable levels.
"If this is to happen, then there needs to be some real value for the community ... there’s no point in simply creating an affordable community, somebody buying it and then [selling it] and taking a capital profit.
"That does nothing for housing affordability whatsoever."
He also wanted further advice on "other large tracts of land" which may be suitable for affordable housing in the district and suggested the item lie on the table until next month’s meeting, for staff to provide answers to those questions.
Cr Scott Stevens, however, said he did not need any more time and did not believe another option with funding for infrastructure, interested developers and connected to existing urban areas would be presented in the next month.
By adding Ladies Mile to the lead policy it enabled development to be council and community led, as opposed to being led by developers and the Environment Court.
"Either way, I’d say that there are willing developers sitting in this room prepared to develop Ladies Mile.
"They’re going to do it [and] they’re going to do it with the community or against the community."
Cr Penny Clark was also in support of moving forward with the item and said it would help to provide housing solutions in the community for the next 30 to 50 years, which the council would have some control over.
Cr Val Miller, however, disagreed and felt the wording around Ladies Mile’s inclusion in the lead policy "perhaps has not got enough teeth".
The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust had commissioned an independent report looking into what potential percentage of new developments should go to the trust for affordable housing developments.At present the amount was 5%, which Cr Miller said was "laughable for a developer".
It was "very obvious" the SHA process in New Zealand, in particular in Queenstown, was "not the solution to affordable housing", she said.
It had created properties which went out at present market rates, were purchased by speculators and sold for capital gain.
"The only thing that has given security of affordable housing in Queenstown has been the community housing trust.
"As a community, if we’re going to lose the Ladies Mile as the entranceway to Queenstown and we’re going to give it up to housing, we’ve got to give something back to the community that we can at least say ‘we lost that, but at least we got you 25% or 30% of houses that people can really afford’."
The council voted to leave the matter on the table; Crs Stevens and Clark were opposed.
