A Queenstown Lakes District Council committee will consider the recommendation the council should become a party to Environment Court appeals against Queenstown Airport Corporation's efforts to construct a proposed runway end safety area (resa) estimated to cost about $10 million.
Senior policy analyst Alyson Hutton will table the move to the strategy committee today.
Quail Rise Estate Ltd, Air New Zealand, Shotover Park Ltd and the Wakatipu Trails Trust lodged separate appeals last week.
They appealed the airport's decision to accept in part and reject in part the recommendation on the notice of requirement for the expansion of the existing aerodrome designation.
The designation change would provide for the safety area on an engineered gravel fill using gravel from the Shotover River delta.
The parties appealed some of the wordings and conditions on the costs, the formation of the eastern access road around the safety area, and provision of pedestrian walkways.
Ms Hutton will submit two options for committee members.
Either the council does not become a section 274 party to Environment Court proceedings and has no influence on the process or result, or the council takes part in mediation and hearings, supports QAC in its resa bids and amends the flight fans for the grass runway.
The council could also provide evidence in the Environment Court.
Ms Hutton submitted the airport was a "key strategic asset" for the district, which catered for local, national and international flights and contributed to the diversity of the economy.
"Should the airport not be able to provide a safety area, the number of flights or passenger numbers on international flights are compromised," she wrote.
The airport lodged a separate resource consent application to extract up to 1,070,000cu m of gravel from the Shotover delta within an area 300m to 500m wide and 1590m long on the true left bank of the river.
There would be continuous gravel extraction for up to 19 months, of about 3200cu m per day.
The application was lodged with Lakes Environmental on October 15 and closed on November 13.
As of yesterday, no public submissions had been made.
