Parties negotiating watersports consent

AFTER years of consent applications and appeals Wanaka’s controversial lakefront watersports facility is set to soon become a reality.

After more than two months of negotiation, the Environment Court released its final decision on the Wanaka Watersports Facility late last month.

An interim decision knocking back an appeal against the facility, by Save Wanaka Lakefront Reserves Inc, was released by Judge John Hassan in June, after a hearing was held in March.

Since the interim decision was released, the two parties have been negotiating the conditions of the consent suggested by the court.

Almost all of the conditions have been settled, except one relating to a boardwalk which both sides had until September 25 to address.

Save Wanaka Lakefront spokesman Alan Cutler said the group was devastated the facility would go ahead, which was a feeling that would probably never leave.

‘‘People . . . ask how I’m feeling about it all, and all I can say is how do you think we feel; you know a lot of time and money was spent fighting it and it wasn’t always a very pleasant experience.’’

With ongoing development in Roys Bay the group would continue its ‘‘watchdog’’ role, Mr Cutler said.

The group had already been contacted by the Wanaka Coastguard about its plans for a base at Eely Point, which the group was not opposed to, Mr Cutler said.

‘‘We’re not antidevelopment. that’s for sure. It’s for the public good and we think Eely Point should be the focal area for that type of activity, so we’re reasonably happy with that.’’

Two other development proposals, the upgrade of the Wanaka Yacht Club and stage one of the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s development of the Wanaka marina, were of interest to the group, he said.

Wanaka Watersports Facility Trust chairman Michael Sidey said the trust hoped to have a consent application lodged with the council by the end of October.

If there were no issues with the consent process, work could start early next year, with an aim of finishing construction by the later half of 2018.

‘‘We still have to show the QLDC the final plans for the building and the engineering report.’’

About $1.5 million would be spent on the facility when it was finished, including the costs of the consent and appeal process, Mr Sidey said.

No request for the recovery of costs was made by the trust

Almost four years after the plans for the facility were originally mooted, the trust members were ready to move on to the ‘‘easier’’ part of the process, he said.

‘‘We just had our AGM not so long ago and it would be fair to say the mood was very good.’’

Funding applications would be submitted, with the aim of having most of it confirmed before work started.