It started in 2021 when Glenpanel lodged the consent application with a Covid-19 fast-track panel for the 384-home development in Frankton.
The panel initially rejected the proposal in 2022, but Glenpanel director Mark Tylden resubmitted its proposal early last year, citing a friendlier political climate for the application.
"Our experience with the Covid-19 fast-track legislation has been extremely disappointing," he said yesterday.
"For nearly four years, we have been trying to get much-needed houses built in Queenstown on one of the only available sites near the city.
"We feel like the Environment Protection Authority and its expert panels have made mistakes and imposed hurdles at every step of the way. Ironically, we have made much faster progress by simply going through ordinary council consenting processes."
Mr Tylden confirmed to the Otago Daily Times that there were a "host" of appeals pending with the Environment Court.
He also said he had paid $78,000 in cost recovery to the fast-track panel last week, after the panel threatened to call in the debt collectors.
The panel suspended proceedings from June until last week while the money saga was up in the air.
Mr Tylden said the whole process had been "immensely frustrating".
"Glenpanel has a range of costs objection proceedings outstanding before both the Environment Court and the Environment Protection Authority.
"Its objections are based on a number of grounds but, fundamentally, Glenpanel’s view is that having been through two fast-track panel processes that were found by the Courts to have involved unlawful decision-making, it should not have to pay the costs associated with running those processes.
"The EPA’s view, which is that Glenpanel should have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the administration of panels who failed to apply the law correctly, is unfair and it goes against what the fast-track regime is trying to achieve: getting things done quickly and efficiently."
Mr Tylden said making the process go faster would require more than just reform.
"We are hopeful that [Resource Management Act Minister] Shane Jones will get the new fast-track process sorted out, as it looks like just another bureaucratic nightmare at present.
Not too long after hearings began in the middle of last year, Glenpanel accused two of the panel members of suspected bias.
The matter went to the Court of Appeal, but both panel members were found not to have had on balance conflicts of interest.
Shortly after this, both panel members left to avoid perceptions of conflicts of interest in the panel.
The panel appointed a special adviser to take over the two panellists’ roles.
Glenpanel took the issue of perceived conflict of interest to the Supreme Court, which decided not to rule on it because the panel members had left by this stage.
"We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not grant leave to appeal because we believed the case raised important issues about the need for panel members to be free from apparent conflicts of interest and to have the appearance of impartiality.
"The Supreme Court acknowledged that these were important issues, but considered it was not necessary to hear the case following Mr Allan’s resignation as a panel member after Glenpanel again raised concerns about his other roles."
Glenpanel has had a similar development of 370 homes near Frankton approved by an EPA panel.
