Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers yesterday told organisers the Rec Ground — their first-choice venue — was out of bounds.
His main concern was what state the field would be in after three nights’ partying by 5000 people, given it is the finish line for November’s Queenstown Marathon, which attracts about 12,000 runners.
The organisers now also have to face canning their second-choice venue, the Queenstown Primary School (QPS) grounds, where the inaugural event was held.
They are now likely to use their third-choice venue: Frankton’s Remarkables Park.
Ironically, the council had originally offered them the Events Centre’s main oval or No 4 field.
In pursuing the Rec Ground, Snow Machine had offered the council $500,000 over five years to fix its drainage problem.
Mr Lewers said he took advice from council officers before turning down the Rec Ground.
He noted it was not just the state of the ground for the marathon they were worried about, but also its use for other upcoming events such as a global children’s rugby tournament and an Otago Country rugby game on August 12.
In relation to the $500,000 offer, "you never look a gift horse in the mouth, but it probably doesn’t fall into the right timing or category for capital work for that field at the moment".
Snow Machine might have "legitimate concerns" about transporting so many people on Frankton Rd, but Bay Dream South was planning double that number for its Events Centre festival in January, "and they’re happy to work through a transport management plan with us".
He also claimed the organisers left it late — "two weeks before we talked [on July 13]" — to apply for the QPS grounds.
"From the advice I’ve received from council officers, we provided consenting advice and a pathway back in April.
"That was not taken up."
Snow Machine director Quentin Nolan and NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson said by killing the Rec Ground as a party venue, the council was removing $15 million of economic benefit from central Queenstown businesses.
"We’re in a post-Covid recovery, but the council just seems to continue to make things very difficult for those businesses to operate with major roadwork disruption and now this on top of it," Mr Anderson said.
He said they tried to engage with Mr Lewers "because we thought this issue needed some political leadership, but, unfortunately, Glyn hasn’t been able to provide that for us".
Mr Anderson and Mr Nolan do not believe Mr Lewers’ reason for canning the Rec Ground stacks up.
"Their reasoning is they’re not satisfied it will be in a good condition for the marathon, which is two and a-half months later," Mr Nolan said.
The ground protection was the same system used in major stadia around the world, "and at [Auckland’s] Eden Park they actually played a game of cricket the next day", Mr Anderson said.
As for the Frankton option, he believed it would undermine the guests’ experience.
"We all know the state of Frankton Rd and how slow that is, so unfortunately we’re going to have to put a lot of buses on Frankton Rd for the patrons, and it means they’re less likely to go out when they go back to town because they’ve had to sit on a bus in traffic and get there."
Mr Nolan denied they were too late applying for consent to use the primary school grounds.
"It was more than two months prior to the event, which fits under their timing guidelines."
By Philip Chandler
