The hearing between opposing parties about the proposed runway safety extension at Queenstown International Airport resumes today.
Senior representatives and legal counsels from Queenstown Airport Corporation Ltd (QAC) and Remarkables Park Ltd met in Christchurch earlier this month in an attempt to agree on conditions to the construction of the airport's proposed 90m long runway end safety area (Resa).
The corporation applied to alter an existing designation in the District Plan to provide for a Resa at both ends of the main runway.
A gravel fill extension on 6.4ha of land at the eastern end of the runway was needed to meet the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) requirement.
The corporation preferred to source the necessary 300,000cu m of gravel from the Lower Shotover River in a project that would cost an estimated $10 million and take up to 27 months to complete.
During the four-day hearing, the corporation maintained the airport could lose its international status if it did not meet the authority's criteria, which would impact upon the district's economy.
No parties opposed the Resa but concerns were raised on the environmental impacts and the need for mitigating measures during the prolonged construction.
Remarkables Park Ltd and Shotover Park Ltd, subsidiaries of Porter Group, wanted the future formation of the paper eastern access road guaranteed in case delays pushed the Resa's completion beyond the authority's deadline of October 2011.
The access road would link Glenda Dr and Hawthorne Dr and simultaneously service the ongoing Remarkables and Shotover residential and commercial developments while helping to spread the load of projected traffic increases on State Highway 6. There was debate over the appropriate width of the access road as it crossed the Resa.
The hearing is scheduled to resume at Crown Plaza Queenstown this morning.
