Residents have until December 17 to lodge submissions on land-use consent applications from the Otago Regional Council (ORC) to build a training line in the Shotover River delta, extract gravel and erect a temporary bridge over the Kawarau River.
The ORC is seeking consent to construct one of two training line options, depending on the final design, along the true-right side of the delta, either a training line on a rock embankment averaging 2m in height and 1250m in length, or one averaging 3m in height and 690m in length.
The line would be 6m wide on top for machine access.
It would feature a 20m turning circle and extra rock-toe protection at the eastern end.
Construction was estimated to take four to eight weeks, working 24 hours a day and taking place during winter, 2010.
Consent was also sought to carry out maintenance work, which may include river diversion.
The second consent sought to extract 1.2 million cu m of gravel from the Shotover delta and Kawarau River, lowering the riverbed by up to 1.5m.
The gravel was destined for separately consented projects, including almost one million cu m for the construction of Queenstown Airport's proposed runway-end safety area (resa), 30,000cu m to build the training line and 70,000cu m for the Queenstown Lakes District Council's effluent-disposal beds.
The third consent was to erect a bailey bridge spanning the Kawarau River for the transport of large rocks from the true right of the river to the training line site.
Associated earthworks were covered in the consent although consent for the transportation of rip-rap would be applied for separately.
The river would be closed for a week while the proposed bridge was built and dismantled.
The bridge would have a clearance of 3m and allow for river passage with a speed restriction.
The structure would be in place for four to eight weeks in winter 2010 and would be completely removed once the training line was finished.
The consents formed part of the Shotover delta management strategy and were publicly notified by the Queenstown Lakes District Council yesterday.
