Colin Weatherall
The company promoting a $100 million waterfront hotel in
Dunedin says it will not meet a deadline for additional
information requested by the Dunedin City Council's hearings
committee.
However, the resource consent hearing that will decide the
project's fate is expected to resume in March, with or
without all the material requested, hearings committee
chairman Cr Colin Weatherall said yesterday.
It was confirmed last month Cr Weatherall had requested
further information from Betterways Advisory Ltd, and planned
to invite submitters to have another say on the new material,
before the hotel's resource consent hearing resumed in March.
The committee wanted an assessment of environmental affects
covering construction and wind disturbance arising from the
hotel, a report from a recognised landscape expert, and more
computer-generated images showing the hotel's appearance from
around the city.
Betterways was also asked to find a way to physically
demonstrate the hotel's height on site, in a way that was
visible from across the harbour, perhaps by using a tethered
balloon.
The company had until Friday to respond to the request,
before submitters were invited to comment again.
However, Betterways director Steve Rodgers said yesterday the
company would not be able to provide the information by the
end of the week.
''We're still working our way through that. We haven't got an
answer for them.''
Cr Weatherall said, when contacted, the hearing would resume
in March, with or without the information.
He had heard from Betterways, and expected to receive a
formal response from them by Friday, but could not say
whether all the information requested would be provided.
''That's really their call. They can go from providing all
that we ask for, or providing us nothing and telling us just
to get on with it. That's their right to do so.''
He expected some information to be provided on all matters,
but ''whether it's as detailed as we want is another
question''.
''I know ... one or two of them [information requests] are a
little bit harder to provide detail to than the others.
''They may give us some broad-brushed approach, and give us
more detail as they get closer to the hearing.''
Once the information was received, submitters would have
until March 1 to make further submissions on the additional
material.
The hearing was scheduled to resume on March 18.
- chris.morris@odt.co.nz
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.