In Bowen Peak Ltd’s third iteration of its fast-track referral application, transport from One Mile Recreation Reserve up to Bowen Peak would now be via three aerial ropeways.
The company’s latest attempt at fast-track approval, lodged late last year, comes after its first application was returned as incomplete more than a year ago and its second was declined by Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop in August.
Both those failed applications proposed two funicular railway lines — cable-driven railways using counterbalanced cars on parallel tracks.
One line would run up to Ben Lomond Saddle to a chairlift, skifield and mountain bike park, the other to a 1040-unit suburban subdivision called ‘‘Fernhill Heights’’.
The company’s latest application retains most of the elements of the first two, but replaces the two railway lines with three contiguous aerial ropeways that extend from the reserve up to the western face of Bowen Peak.
A 10-seat gondola would run from a station in the reserve up to a new residential development on a 52ha, privately-owned site above Fernhill.
The new subdivision of Fernhill Heights would consist of 1333 residential apartments in 175 ‘‘alpine chalets’’, of which 5% would be gifted to the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.
From Fernhill Heights, a ‘‘funifor’’ — wind-stable aerial cable car — with 110-person cabins would run to a 60-bed outdoor education building near Ben Lomond Saddle.
From there, another 10-seat gondola would run to a viewing platform on Bowen Peak that would provide access to the mountain bike and ski areas.
The third application also includes a 290ha, fenced predator-free sanctuary in the One Mile Creek valley, a ‘‘small-scale’’ retail, hospitality and tourism precinct in One Mile Recreation Reserve, and a walking and biking trail network.
A 1500-person international convention centre and carpark building in the reserve that formed part of the first two applications have been removed from the latest proposal, although remain outlined on maps as ‘‘potential future’’ options.
Bowen Peak Ltd director Dr Guy Hingston, a renowned cancer surgeon in Australia, told the Otago Daily Times the company was ‘‘patiently waiting’’ for its referral application to be processed.
Dr Hingston said all the documents the company submitted to the Ministry for the Environment’s fast-track team in December could be viewed on the company’s website.
Bowen Peak Ltd was also seeking permission to build a temporary ‘‘haul road’’ — connecting the One Mile roundabout to Thompson St — to help enable the wider development.
A resource consent application to the Queenstown Lakes District Council last month said the 6m-wide gravel road, which would roughly follow the route of stage three of the arterial bypass, would enable trucks to access construction sites while bypassing the town centre.
The proposed road, aimed at ‘‘prioritising community interests and maximising general transport safety’’, also required a concession from the Department of Conservation, the application said.
‘‘This planning pathway ... is proposed as a courtesy to the community to keep construction traffic away from the Queenstown CBD road network.’’
Meanwhile, Southern Infrastructure Ltd’s proposed Queenstown cable car has entered the first stages of the fast-track process.
The next stage is for detailed design, assessment of effects and proposal of suitable conditions to be supplied.
