The West Coast Regional Council let a contract in May last year to Greymouth contractor MBD for floodbank improvements and extensions on the Waiho true right bank, for the $12.5million first stage, but ran into trouble.
Late last year, as the council tried to quickly resolve the necessary resource consents on a non-notified basis, the Scenic Hotel Group declined to give affected-party approval.
Today a public hearing will convene in Greymouth to hear from both sides.
The hearing commissioner was set to visit Franz Josef yesterday.
According to papers filed for the hearing, Scenic Circle in January told the regional council it was not confident construction of the new flood resilience scheme demonstrated enough safeguards to allow it to rebuild the hotel with confidence.
Scenic said the stopbank below the township and behind the hotel had failed on March 23, 2016, "following unauthorised and unconsented work" in the riverbed, including "the diversion of the river towards the hotel".
The Scenic Hotel Group’s Mueller Wing was surrounded by floodwaters after the Waiho River broke through a stopbank immediately behind the site in March 2016.
It did not state who had done that work but Scenic noted its insurers considered both the regional council and the Westland District Council and their respective contractors responsible for the subsequent flood damage.
"SHGL [Scenic Hotel Group Ltd] does not want to see a repeat of this in the riverbed and on the stopbanks resulting in flooding or damage to its property in the future."
Scenic claimed it wished to rebuild a new hotel on the old site but could not do so without being able to finance and insure the site due to the risk.
It also contended what happened in 2016 was down to the regional council’s failure to maintain the old stopbanks and to prevent contractors and locals from excavating gravel.
The council had failed to "properly police and monitor" work in the riverbed prior to the 2016 event.
The council had also failed in its role to ensure resource consents were held by those doing the work.
It was important the "the failures and processes of the past" were not repeated by the new scheme.
The $30m claim by Scenic’s insurers has been settled confidentially for an undisclosed sum by both councils.
In the meantime, work on the northern flood bank improvement and extension by the West Coast Regional Council has slowed to a snail’s pace.
Crucial to the planned work is the raising of the existing stopbank, and an extension by nearly 1km from Franz Josef Heliport to below the derelict hotel site.
- By Brendon McMahon
