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John Mann
The increasing risk of conflict between noise sensitive
residents, accommodation operators and bar owners is
"Queenstown's Achilles heel", Queenstown Lakes district
councillor John Mann says.
Mr Mann told a subcommittee yesterday a plan change was
"unavoidable" after a scoping report by senior policy analyst
Ralph Henderson highlighted noise issues in the mixed
residential and commercial hub of the resort.
"We've got two primary opposing drivers and we've got away
with it for 20 years," Mr Mann said.
"There's no real, solid guidance for developers coming in."Mr
Mann urged the advance of a plan change to address noise
issues when projects for the 2010 annual plan were resourced.
A total of 39% of complaints about noise between 2005 and
2009 related to bars on Church St, the report indicated.
Complaints about Revolver and Altitude bar, on lower Shotover
St, were close behind at 32%.
Complaints about Red Rock came in third at 13%, followed by
the Pig and Whistle pub at 6% and Queenstown Mall at 4%.
Noise issues in central Queenstown were more likely to be
between commercial operators with deep pockets, which could
lead to legal challenges and the expensive involvement of the
council, the report said.
Queenstown had one of the lowest night-time noise limits in
the country and was on a par with Napier, at 50dB.
Noise limits in Dunedin, Christchurch's entertainment
precinct and central Auckland were at 60dB and Invercargill
was at 65dB.
Man St, Crowne Plaza hotel, Sofitel, Hallenstein St and
Novotel were areas potentially sensitive to noise in the
future, Mr Henderson told the committee.
He acknowledged it was difficult for people and monitors to
identify where noise was coming from, given the high ambient
noise level, which had actually increased to become more than
50dB.
Complaints about Red Rock were found to be linked with
pedestrians and traffic noise.
There were also different expectations from different age
groups about noise levels in a town centre.
Cr John R Wilson said it was a disadvantage of Queenstown
there was not a strip of bars in one place, as in
Christchurch.
Bars were, instead, dotted around the central business
district.
Policy and planning general manager Philip Pannett said
setting a hotel opposite a bar had obvious potential for
problems.
Chairwoman Gillian Macleod asked if Base backpackers hostel,
above Altitude and opposite Revolver, had complained about
noise levels, as Base was a relatively new visitor
accommodation provider.
No-one had heard of Base complaining.
Wanaka Community Board member Carrick Jones and Cr Leigh
Overton said the Mint Bar, in Wanaka, caused major problems
for the residences around it.
But the noise problem in Wanaka was not on the same scale as
in Queenstown.
The issue of noise was identified as an increasing problem
and Queenstown policy would inform how Wanaka was handled,
they said.
Ms Macleod said one direction for Queenstown could be the
creation of an internal precinct within the town centre,
which would have a higher noise threshold than elsewhere.
Mr Henderson told the committee the district plan did not
make provision for one-off events, such as the Queenstown
Winter Festival or New Year's Eve, which breached noise
standards.
He recommended accommodating those regular events explicitly
in council policy.
Councillors moved to receive the report.
