QLDC's insane parking building rule: 'Encourage people not to use their cars'

Buried in the complex resource consent for Skyline's soon to be opened multi storey car park is a Queenstown Lakes District Council condition: "Encourage staff and visitors not to use their cars".

This is just one of a number of conditions that seem to 100 percent contradict the purpose of the building - car parking.

The conditions are revealed in an Environment Court review of the Skyline Enterprises vs QLDC resource consent application in December 2018 that subsequently became part of the final approved consent.

Referred to as "Condition 100" the clauses all require Skyline to reduce or even prevent the use of cars.

Condition 102 of the resource consent then requires Skyline to undertake five consecutive annual travel surveys for QLDC in order to prove that the requirements of Condition 100 are being met.

Condition 100 requires not only that Skyline discourage members of the public from using the parking building (in favour of staff and gondola/Ben Lomond reserve users) but that Skyline encourage those same "approved" users not to use their cars - effectively making the building redundant.

Quoted in local media today (June 27) Skyline chief executive Geoff McDonald called the QLDC conditions "crazy". Mr McDonald added, "It's a real shame that there's not access for the rest of the community who are struggling to find car parks."

The removal of cars from the Queenstown CBD was a feature of a council funded Masterplan produced by Arrowtown consultants Rationale, an approach recently endorsed by QLDC Councillor Lisa Guy. Mrs Guy and her husband own Rationale via a family trust.