Ngāi Tahu reignites Lakeview hot pool plans

An on-again, off-again project to develop hot pools on Lakeview reserve land below Queenstown's Skyline gondola appears to be on again.

After pressing pause on its plans during the Covid-19 pandemic, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu is now keen to progress them.

This time, they're looking to bring on a partner - the Australian company spearheading the multi-billion dollar Lakeview precinct development, Ninety-Four Feet.

Elected members of the Queenstown Lakes District Council have been briefed on the proposal at a workshop today.

Council staffer Paul Speedy, who manages strategic projects like Lakeview, says the arrangement between Ngāi Tahu and Ninety-Four Feet is still being negotiated, but he indicates a likely 50-50 partnership.

"Essentially, the proposal remains one whereby Ngāi Tahu leases the site from QLDC for the purposes of developing a public hot pools facility - but it is doing so with a partner who will supply funding and project delivery support," Mr Speedy says in his briefing to the mayor and councillors.

The site in question has reserve land status, and leasing it was subject to public consultation in 2018. Following this, the council entered into an agreement with Ngāi Tahu Tourism, but Mr Speedy says the deal "fell away during Covid-19".

The hot pools have been in discussion for a decade and a half, and Mr Speedy says they were "quite central to the precinct" during early site design work.

While details of the original lease agreement six years ago were not discussed today, it was indicated a "standard" lease arrangement for reserve land would be 7.5 percent of gross revenue.

Mr Speedy says a new lease arrangement will need to be entered into with Ngāi Tahu to progress plans, and council sign off will be required at different steps in the process.

Brett Ellison, of Te Rūnaga o Ōtākou, and Mike Stevens, of Te Rūnaka o Awarua, attended today's workshop to present the Ngāi Tahu led project.

Mr Stevens says the "tweaked" project still has "localism at its heart", and Ngāi Tahu will heavily influence the "cultural narrative" of the site.

Mr Ellison says moving forward with Ninety-Four Feet "de-risks" the project for Ngāi Tahu.

Hard and fast answers to questions from councillor Niki Gladding about pricing for the eventual public pools went unanswered, with Mr Stevens saying Ngāi Tahu is not at that stage of business planning yet.

Councillor Gladding has expressed reservations about the potential for the reserve land to have a degree of exclusivity to it, depending on the clientele the pool complex is pitched at.

Councillor Lisa Guy offers an opposing view, saying the proposal is evidence of Ninety-Four Feet seeking to provide greater public amenity at the site.

"It is one of the things our community keeps calling for,'What are we going to get out of Lakeview?'."

She says there is plenty of wilderness reserve land behind the Lakeview precint on the slopes of Ben Lomond.

Main image (New Zealand Sotheby's International/Te Taumata Lakeview sales brochure): An artist's impression, subject to consent, for a hot pool complex at the centre of the multi-billion dollar Lakeview precinct in central Queenstown.