Adjournment of Skyline consent hearing urged

Two lawyers yesterday submitted the Environment Court does not have enough information to grant consent to Skyline Enterprises Ltd for its planned $100 million-plus development.

Queenstown Lakes District Council counsel Joshua Leckie, of Lane Neave, said the council was ‘‘supportive’’ of Skyline’s intention to refurbish and enhance the ‘‘iconic feature of Queenstown’’ and it ‘‘commends the applicant for their committment to the retention and enhancement of tourism offerings in Queenstown’’.

While any other concerns could be mitigated by way of appropriate conditions, the council’s key concern with the application was around the 350 car parks proposed by Skyline, not included in the Environment Court direct referral application.

Mr Leckie submitted the court could either issue an interim decision, delaying the final decision until resource consent for the proposed multi-level car parking building had been dealt with, or adjourn the hearing until such time as the resource consent hearing for that building had been held and a decision issued.

Both he and Dr Royden Somerville QC, appearing on behalf of Ziptrek, said the conditions proposed by Skyline around the parking building had the potential to nullify any consent granted by the court.

The conditions, as proposed, essentially mean Skyline would have to confirm its ability to lawfully establish and/or maintain at least 350 car parks and establish them before its redeveloped facilities could be used.

Dr Somerville submitted those conditions were an unlawful deferral of a decision by the council in the future and there was no certainty consent for the building would be granted.

‘‘Fulfillment of the condition is within the power of the council, not Skyline.

‘‘It would be different if the condition deferred use of the restaurant until the additional car park has been constructed, an event, but that is not how proposed condition 56 is framed.

‘‘It is clear that, as a matter of law, a court cannot delegate to another consent authority in the future an issue which should have been decided at the time,’’ Dr Somerville said.

Ziptrek, he said, was not opposed to the proposal, but ‘‘very conscious’’ of any actual or potential implications being appropriately managed through conditions.

Chief among those was the risk of fire on the Ben Lomond reserve, as identified by former Otago Rural Fire Authority deputy principal rural fire officer Jamie Cowan.

In a report, Mr Cowan identified power lines as a fire hazard and recommended those be put underground to mitigate that risk.

Giving evidence in court yesterday, ORFA fire operations manager Graeme Still estimated if a tree fell on the power line near the bottom of the hill — located in the resort’s Red Zone — it would take about eight minutes for the fire to reach the Skyline complex at the top.

‘‘I think from a mitigation point of view . . . if you look at the hazards, logically, it’s either a) people, or b) power lines.

‘‘Power lines [are] a known high hazard.

‘‘[If] you have the lines underground, all of a sudden you don’t have that hazard.

‘‘That is the most practical way to eliminate that totally.’’

Ziptrek submitted that, based on evidence before the court, the application should be adjourned.

‘‘An interim decision causes real difficulties in this case . . . a little bit of time might really help to provide more comprehensive understanding of this project and for the parties to be able to work on trying to find ways of mitigating the effects that concern them.’’

 tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz 

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