Council chief executive Peter Bodeker made that point yesterday and said the aim was to open the office within the next six months, strengthening the regional council's presence in the area.
The Queenstown office will also become, with Dunedin and Alexandra, one of three regional council offices throughout Otago to be open and staffed for public inquiries throughout the business week.
Council staff were already regularly working in the Queenstown area, but people there had wanted a local presence which could handle inquiries with a walk-in office and ''we've responded to that'', Mr Bodeker said.
Council chairman Stephen Woodhead agreed the office would be a positive development and there was clearly a need for it to be established.
The Queenstown area was growing rapidly, and the regional council was closely involved in several ways, including in environmental and collaborative public transport work.
The council had been strongly engaged in the Queenstown area for many years, and establishing the office would allow it to respond to the growing demand for its services, including in helping with any environmental incidents, such as pollution spills, he said.
At a Dunedin meeting yesterday, the council's finance and corporate committee discussed a series of wide-ranging recommendations from the council's annual plan hearing committee.
A total of 327 annual plan submitters had backed the council's preferred option, that an office be established in Queenstown in the next financial year, starting on July 1.
But 356 other submitters favoured a second option, that the proposal be delayed until the next long-term plan process, in 2018-19.
Mr Bodeker said the finance and corporate committee recommendation to the full council over the office proposal was a ''very positive'' development for the Queenstown area and for the council.
Considerable discussion of the matter by the finance committee yesterday had focused on the nature of the office, and had confirmed it would be open and staffed throughout the week.
Final details are yet to be finalised, but it is understood that at least three people are likely to be employed, and their duties would include dealing with consents, and transport, and at least one person would handle ''front of house'' inquiries from the public.
