Queenstown Lakes District Council network operations engineer Ian Marshall said yesterday the council had not realised the hawthorn bushes between the poplars were protected under the district plan when it put the original removal document out to tender.
Farmer and businesswoman Cindy Liggett, widow of the farmer who died when one of the poplars fell in high winds and crushed his utility vehicle, called for the immediate removal of the trees in early December.
She said yesterday she was not surprised by the latest delay.
A resident notified the council about the plan's hawthorn protection 10 days ago, Mr Marshall said.
"So . . . we need to manage [the hawthorns] in terms of what's an acceptable methodology [of tree removal] and put a hold on closing the tender to devise a methodology, and convey that to the tenderers, to consider if that impacts on the price for the job."
Mr Marshall said the aim would be to remove the poplars while minimising hawthorn damage "to an acceptable level".
The method would not be difficult to devise, he said.
The district plan protected the avenue of hawthorn hedge within the triangle of Domain Rd, Speargrass Flat Rd and Lower Shotover Rd, on both sides.
The section of Lower Shotover Rd relating to the tender was list mostly with poplars, but the hawthorn hedge was still evident.
More than 20 companies from throughout the South Island had lodged tenders by the closing date on Thursday.
However, the council's hawthorn methodology will go back to tenderers and they will have until January 28 to respond.
The lowest price would be the winning tender, subject to the contractors' timeframe and competency to fell and remove about 72 poplar trees along the road.
The expected time of the removal of the poplars, in mid-February, will be five months since Russell Albert Liggett (57) died and more than two months since a consultant arborist told a council subcommittee 64 of the 67 trees were "compromised in stability" and should be removed.
Mrs Liggett said she and her husband used to maintain the hawthorns on their property, until the hedge came under the protection of the council within the past nine years.
"Now you can't touch them," she said.
"Are we looking at five years down the track, when they start dying off because they are not being looked after? "
"Perhaps [the council] should be thinking about maintaining the hawthorns so we won't have issues later on and everyone starts screaming we have big ugly gaps down the road."
