Issues around service displacement, customer access and convenience, cost of rental accommodation and future growth have lead to the Queenstown Lakes District Council considering its future office accommodation options, QLDC Duncan Field said.

"At the moment we have Queenstown council staff located in six different locations, five of those are rental arrangements and we have our key services of engineering and planning and regulatory in different buildings again, in the case of Lakes Environmental, across the other side of town," Mr Field.

Locating council and its affiliates under one roof in the future had major advantages for the community, a crucial one being efficiencies in time and cost.

"We are talking vastly improved access and convenience for the community, particularly when they are dealing with multiple matters. At the moment our community struggles to find parking to visit council offices only to be penalised for having visited the wrong office," Mr Field said.

In addition to that the council and its associated organisations were paying rental that could be dedicated to funding a loan to develop a 'one-stop-shop' venue with dedicated parking and vastly enhanced access.

"There is no getting away from the fact that over the next 15 to 20 years, across all council organisations and services, in keeping with the continued growth of the district, there will be additional staff to accommodate," Mr Field said.

The council had commissioned a report to investigate its options.

"In the end the report found the council had three options," Mr Field said.

They were:

• Do nothing, stay in the current separated buildings and continue to risk trying to lease other  space in central Queenstown.
• Designate and develop the Gorge Road carpark (adjacent to the council building) to house all council staff and affiliates for the next 20 years and develop a major underground carpark on the site.
• Enter into an arrangement via purchase or Joint Venture to develop another site (consideration given to Man Street property).

"At this stage the council has authorised me to establish a project to have in place a solution by 2010, which coincides with the expiry of current leases for council, Lakes Environmental and our other agencies. This will include costing that will then need to be consulted on for inclusion in the next Council Community Plan," Mr Field said.

The council prefers the development of a new building and underground carpark on Gorge Road.

"It is critical that the council remains in the heart of the town to anchor activities other than tourism and food and beverage in the area. This has a spill on effect for professional services, which is a major contributor to the life and colour of the CBD," Mr Field said.

There would be a price for a new building and carpark and that would likely be in excess of $20 million but a driving factor in the project would be to ensure the solution did not come at an excessive cost to the ratepayer.

The council intends that saving in annual rentals paid to private landlords will offset any investment in a new building.

"We are very fortunate that the council had the foresight in 1999 to make the inspired decision to purchase the present Gorge Road site. That presents us with a number of options including selling the building or leasing it for future rental return for the community," Mr Field said.

Other factors to consider were making any future council building and carpark adhere to high standards of urban and ecological design.

ENDS

For further information please contact Duncan Field 03 441 0499.

By: Tamah