Kiosk on wharf may get quashed

BY BEN HEATHER IN QUEENSTOWN

Kawarau Jet has again forced regulator Lakes Environmental to revise a decision, this time over rival Thunder Jet's efforts to build a waterfront kiosk.

Last month NK and AC Ltd, owned by Thunder Jet director Neville Kelly, was cleared by an independent commissioner to have consent for a kiosk on a Queenstown wharf processed without a public hearing.

The kiosk would service the stalled jet boat company and other businesses, such as fishing tours, based at the wharf.

But Kawarau Jet has raised concerns about the decision and, after getting legal advice, Lakes Environmental has backed off, saying public notification will be reconsidered.

This is the second time in the past three months Kawarau Jet has got Lakes Environmental to revise a decision.

In August, Lakes Environmental said Kawarau Jet was operating boats outside its consent conditions but Queenstown Lakes District Council overruled that decision after complaints from the jet boat company.

Kawarau Jet director Andy Brinsley said the company's disagreements with Lakes Environmental were supported by law.

"There's no suggestion that there is any favouritism there," he said.

Asked if he had faith in Lakes Environmental's decision making, Mr Brinsley said he did not want to get into a scrap with the regulator.

The 3.5m-high kiosk would be a big structure on the sensitive Queenstown waterfront and the public should get the chance to have their say, he said.

Mr Brinsley said his concerns were not to related Kawarau Jet's long-running legal battle with Thunder Jet about access to the Kawarau River, where Kawarau Jet has had a commercial jet boat monopoly for more than a decade.

NK and AC lawyer Pru Stevens told Lakes Environmental her client was frustrated the "robust" decision not to notify the kiosk was being revised.

"The problems ... are not of the applicant's making and nor should the applicant be put to additional cost or delay because of Mr Castiglione's (Kawarau Jet's lawyer) threats of a judicial review," she said in letter to the regulator.

Lakes Environmental planning manager Brian Fitzpatrick said he was not aware of any threats but had sought a second opinion to avoid a potentially costly legal battle with ratepayers' money.

"We do listen to all parties and sometimes that causes us to be careful," he said.

It was not often that Lakes Environmental revised a decision not to notify a consent, he said.

Kawarau Jet appealed a Thunder Jet consent to operate last month, in a legal battle that has been going since last year.

The question of public notification will be reconsidered by retired High Court Judge Peter Salmon on November 25.

Mr Kelly could not be contacted yesterday.

- © Fairfax NZ News