Bid to upset Queenstown hotel refusal

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 2

Bid to upset Queenstown hotel refusal

Special correspondent Queenstown Appeals have been lodged with the High Court against the recent Planning Tribunal decision to disallow Tourist Hotel Corporation plans for a $5O million lakefront hotel in Queenstown. Appeals have been filed with the Court in Wellington, by the T.H.C. and the Lakes Queenstown Wakatipu Combined Planning Committee whose decision to allow the hotel to be built partly on reserve land was cancelled by the tribunal.

The T.H.C. appeal had been lodged only as a protective measure, said the Minister of Tourism, Mr Moore, this week. A decision on whether to proceed would be made at the next T.H.C. board meeting, on February 14. A hearing date for the appeals, should they proceed, is not likely before April.

Mr Moore said he would attend the board meeting to discuss “our next moves.”

Lawyers in the case believe that should the Minister of Lands, Mr Wetere, and the Minister of Works and Development, Mr Colman, use their powers to revoke the reserve designation on part of the hotel site, the 200-room hotel could still proceed.

This move would theoretically remove one of the obstacles outlined by the tribunal in its decision of December 22, opposing the development Under the Reserves Act, Mr Wetere has power to alter the recreation reserve designation of the land in the District Scheme. Such a change must be notified publicly and any objections considered by the Minister. Although Mr Colman could also revoke the land

designation, the planning commitee’s solicitor, Mr Neville Marquet, of Dunedin, believes this is unlikely without Mr Wetere’s first having revoked the reserve status.

A spokesman for Mr Colman’s office said it was wiithin the Minister’s powers to place and remove designations. This usually was done when a body such as a local authority no longer required the land for a particular purpose.

Mr Marquet said the T.H.C. could request removal of the reserve status or appeal against the decision.

Two aspects of the tribunal’s decision were worthy of appeal, he said. These were based on the T.H.C.’s special powers under its own act and its unique right to administer and build on reserves. Mr Moore said that no recommendation had yet been made to either Minister regarding the Park Street reserve. He said he was convinced that the proposed development would not endanger the environment in Queenstown, especially in view of previous site proposals of eight to 10-storey buildings and one using the whole reserve.. Mr Moore said he could make suggestions but not directions to the T.H.C. Decisions in the case had taken too long and the costs Incurred were too high, he said. Although people must have the right to proper objection procedures he was concerned about the time taken. The tourist Industry was being damaged by a shortage of first-class accommodation. Mr Moore said the Town and Country Planning Act should be rewritten to avoid these kinds of long planning delays.