Confusion reigned on the first day of a week-long Environment Court hearing in Queenstown yesterday, in which two of the resort's heavyweights are battling over land.
Judge Jane Borthwick adjourned proceedings late yesterday because she did ''not understand the argument'' for Remarkables Park Ltd (RPL), fighting with Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) over an 18.4ha of land, known as Lot 6, which RPL owns.
Judge Borthwick gave RPL lawyer Dr Royden Somerville QC until this morning to ''articulate'' what his client saw as the issues and propositions after she and QAC lawyer Matthew Casey QC expressed their confusion.
The hearing had been to determine, in part, what the minimum separation requirement was under the Civil Aviation Act 1990 for a proposed parallel taxiway - while a 2012 interim decision of the court found that was 93m, QAC argued it should be 168m.
If a Notice of Requirement (NOR) was confirmed with the lesser separation distance and that was not approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, the airport would likely have insufficient land for both the taxiway and a relocated general aviation precinct.
However, it appeared RPL wanted to address wider issues, including the relocation of the general aviation precinct and helicopter and general aviation safety.
Mr Casey said RPL had never given an indication those matters would be discussed during the hearing.
''It's not open to my learned friend, in any event, to invite you to revisit the findings ... if he wants to call other evidence, he's too late. I haven't come to court prepared to address them [and] we are not in a position to do so on the basis of the evidence that's before you at this hearing.''
Dr Somerville said he could understand Mr Casey's reluctance to embark on the safety case ''because none of his evidence covers that'' and suggested adjourning the hearing completely so legal arguments could be prepared.
