A bumper Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) meeting covering housing affordability, urban zoning changes and alcohol regulations will take place today (Thursday August 10).

Councillors will decide whether or not to approve the Queenstown Lakes District Joint Housing Action Plan (JHAP), which proposes a range of actions with the goal of creating a future where anyone who chooses to live in the district can easily access quality, stable, affordable housing.

Created by QLDC with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Kāinga Ora and the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust, the plan aims to improve housing in the district, where the average property value is 14 times the average household income.

Following community and stakeholder feedback, minor changes have been made to the draft JHAP, including additional actions specific to improving supply in the rental market. 

Councillors will also decide on a review of the Alcohol in Public Places Bylaw 2018, which determines where and when alcohol can be consumed in public settings.

A hearings panel has recommended a range of changes (including adding a permanent Christmas and Boxing Day alcohol ban in public places in Wānaka and maintaining year-round alcohol bans from 6pm-6am in some Lake Hāwea public places) to the bylaw. 

The third of the big ticket items for councillors to consider today is whether to include Lake Hāwea South land in the Urban Intensification Variation (UIV) notification.

Councillors will consider whether or not to include Lake Hāwea South land in the Urban Intensification Variation (UIV) notification.

The UIV, which proposes a significant change to urban zoning with increased density and building height in specific areas around the district, was approved for notification in June.

Read more: Council proposes major changes to urban density rules

While the UIV was being prepared, land located south of Cemetery Road in Hāwea was zoned rural residential and therefore wasn’t captured by the urban zoning considerations, but the Environment Court has since issued a consent order to more than double the town’s urban boundary.

The proposed changes to zoning in other parts of the district will be applied to Lake Hāwea South if councillors approved its inclusion in the UIV.

Other items on today’s council agenda include a bylaw on activities in public places, a draft cemeteries bylaw and four public excluded items.

The QLDC full council meeting will take place at 1pm at the council chambers in Queenstown.

PHOTO: Supplied