Under the preferred option, the centre - home to Queenstown's Returned Services Association - would be demolished to make way for a road.
The masterplan, about two years in the making, was yesterday released for public feedback before the Queenstown Lakes District Council determines its priorities for inclusion in the long-term plan.
Components included a cultural and community heart, which would feature a new building to house council staff; public transport and other transport options; improved parking facilities; and enhancing the way the town looked, felt and functioned.
A key component would be the Inner Links project, which has been on the table since about 2005.
The council was ``now convinced'' it needed to push ahead with that, divert traffic from the town centre, and add parking options.
The preferred option for an arterial road would go through the existing council offices in Gorge Rd and the memorial centre.
As well as housing the RSA, the centre also hosts functions, events and performances.
It was reopened in March 2013 after a $3.1million upgrade.
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said an ``absolute non-negotiable'' for the council was to ensure, should the centre be demolished to make way for the road, ``something else is provided'' for the RSA and performing arts community.
The council did not want to end up ``with a situation like Milton'' where there was a ``kink'' in the middle of a road because of a building ``nobody got their heads around shifting''.
``It's a building and it can be [built] elsewhere.''
DowntownQT general manager Steve Wilde - who was the Queenstown Memorial Centre Trust deputy chairman - said the future of the centre would be ``the most difficult conversation as a community''.
``I'm comfortable with the conversations that have been had with the RSA and I think that they were also comfortable with how this might pan out,'' Mr Wilde said.
``I think we've got to look at it in this way: we have had 50 years of good times in there, Mr Wilde said.
``If we really are going to be grown up about this and have difficult, hard conversations and think about what's best, then we need to not have sacred cows that can't be touched.''
Queenstown RSA president Lyall McGregor said while he was personally against the proposal from a financial perspective, the RSA would accept any decision the council made.
``It's been on the books for 30 years'', he said.
The RSA had signed a memorandum of understanding with the council to ensure it had a facility in Queenstown for its members.
Its paid membership was about 120, Mr McGregor said.
``We're not going to lie down in front of the bulldozer or anything like that.
``It's onwards and upwards ... RSA-wise we'll all go with the flow, but I ... personally can't see a road going right through there.''
Mr Wilde believed the arterial route was the most integral aspect of the plan and would ``unlock the whole thing''.
DowntownQT wanted to see ``at least the first stage'' - Melbourne St to Henry St - completed by the end of 2021.
Mr Wilde described the release of the masterplan as a ``red letter day'' for Queenstown.
It was the first time in 20 years there would be a meaningful discussion about the resort's future, and there was a willingness from various funders, including the council, the NZ Transport Agency, and the Government to contribute.
``This is a once-in-a-generation thing for us [and] we are going to have to have some difficult conversations.
``It's not just about the memorial centre, it's about what this town means to everyone.
``Everyone is at the table [and] I really hope we get over the whingy rhetoric that's doing the rounds at the moment,'' Mr Wilde said.
Done well, the outcome for Queenstown would be a return to ``its global, world-class feeling'', he said.
Public feedback on the masterplan closes on July 31.
