As part of its review of the Wanaka facility mix masterplan, the Queenstown Lakes District Council will consider building a gym at the Wanaka Recreation Centre.
The council’s sport and recreation manager, Simon Battrick, said the possibility of a gym being built at the site was being investigated.
Gyms were a common service at other community sport centres and income from memberships and casual uses helped offset the cost of other services to ratepayers, Mr Battrick said.
The potential effect on similar facilities and services in Wanaka would have to be considered.
Any decision to add more facilities to the recreation centre would need to be approved by the council and the public allowed their say.
A survey of people who had used the recreation centre found there was support for a commercial gym at the facility.
Other additions to the recreation centre being investigated included a cafe and more space for Upper Clutha sport clubs.
The review was still in its early stages and was not expected to be completed before July 2017.
Multi Peak Fitness owner Martin McKone said he understood the council had said it would not build a gym at the recreation centre, so was surprised to hear it was now investigating the possibility.
Although it was best if the council did not compete with local business, Mr McKone said he would wait until any plans were released before he could say if he was against it.
There were already at least 10 gyms in Wanaka so there was no guarantee another one would be successful, Mr McKone said.
Many of the gyms focused on a particular niche and were quite small.
"You have your CrossFitters and you have your multisport athletes and you have your regular gym-goer, so it will be interesting to see what happens."
Other gym owners spoken to were also worried about what effect a council-run gym would have on their businesses, but would wait to see what was proposed before commenting.
The council already operates a gym at the Queenstown Events Centre.
