Tourist operation clarity sought

More clarity around operations on the Dart River and greater protection of TSS Earnslaw's operation were sought by two tourism companies submitting on the Queenstown Lakes District Council's proposed district plan on Tuesday.

John Edmonds, on behalf of Ngai Tahu Tourism (NTT), sought for amendments to parts of the plan in relation to operations by Dart River Jet Safaris on the Dart River.

Mr Edmonds said there had been a "convoluted history'' with the river as initially, three separate companies had commercial operations on it and, subsequently, "a lot of resource management case law'' was created.

NTT later acquired all three companies and ran them under one brand.

The operation involves transporting customers by bus to Glenorchy and then taking them by jet-boat up the Dart River through the braided section.

Boats often stopped at the logical halfway point of Beans Burn for a comfort stop, before continuing to Sandy Bluff.

Customers were then either taken back by jet-boat, or travelled to Chinamans Bluff in inflatable canoes and then were transported by boat, Mr Edmonds said.

While the district plan reflected many of the Environment Court decisions in relation to operations, parts of it were "confusing'', he said.

The court had granted a maximum of 26 jet-boat trips and 15 canoe trips a day to NTT.

However, the proposed district plan referred to "two operators''.

NTT considered that could be "misleading'', Mr Edmonds said.

"Where it refers to two operators, there is only one,'' he said.

"It's confusing and it does signal on one hand there's a cap of 26 trips per day and on the other hand that two commercial operators are OK.

"This is the opportunity to say the ownership structure on the river has changed and there is only one operator.''

In response to questions from the panel, Mr Edmonds said any other company wishing to run trips on that river would need to apply to breach the rules in relation to the maximum number of trips allowed.

NTT also sought for an amendment in respect of the prohibition of motorised crafts on tributaries of the Rees and Dart Rivers.

While Rock Burn was excepted from that prohibition, the company also sought to have Beans Burn included in the exemption.

On Tuesday morning Fiona Black, of Real Journeys, asked for the plan to "adequately protect and provide'' for the operation of Earnslaw.

"For Real Journeys, ensuring the operation of the TSS Earnslaw is given protection in the PDP [proposed district plan] is the single most important aspect of the ... chapters which have been notified thus far.''

Ms Black said one of the unique characteristics of Earnslaw was it performed "quite unpredictably'' at times.

Therefore, it would be "very difficult'' for Earnslaw to operate in close proximity to another operation on Lake Wakatipu, for example, kayaking tours or wind surfing.

Planner Ben Farrell said the boat was one of Queenstown's key tourism activities and "should be protected from new surface water activities''.

He proposed provisions be implemented at a policy level to ensure any decisions made around future propositions on the lake took into account the operational requirements of Earnslaw.

The company was also concerned the proposed plan did not provide the correct balance between the need to protect the natural environment and allow for the tourism industry to develop and felt a new rule around indigenous vegetation clearance within a ski area sub zone was "inequitable'' and disadvantaged operators of skifields on privately owned land.

Ms Black said operators on private land required a resource consent under the Resource Management Act, which was time consuming and costly to gain.

However, operators on land administered under the Conservation Act would require a one-off permit, processed by Doc.

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