Dryslope facility gets thumbsdown
PLANNING advisers have poured cold water on New Zealand Snow Sports’ keenly anticipated yearround dryslope training facility in the Cardrona Valley.
Queenstown Lakes District Council planner Erica Walker and consultant landscape architect Richard Denney recommended resource consent be refused because the facility would be visible from multiple viewpoints in the valley and would not maintain the open character of the landscape.
Should the Queenstown Lakes District Council hearings panel decide otherwise on June 27, Ms Walker and Mr Denney have suggested a stack of conditions, including changing the colour of the red, black and white landing bags to muted browns, greys and greens, and boosting a proposed planting scheme.
‘‘The proposed development represents creep of skifield activities into the [outstanding natural landscape] outside the zoned ski area subzone, and the proposed colours are not anticipated in an ONL,’’ Ms Walker said.
The planning reports will be considered alongside NZSS’ evidence at a hearing in Wa¯naka on June 27.
Wa¯naka Winter Olympians Nico Porteous and Zoi SadowskiSynnott are backing the proposal, which applied for resource consent late last year.
They said using landing bags had been crucial for their progression in their sports and moving it down the mountain would provide yearround training opportunities.
‘‘They were an integral part of me learning right and left 1620s, two tricks which were a considerable part of my success over the last few years,’’ Olympic gold medallist freeskier Porteous said in his submission to the council.
SadowskiSynnott said in her submission that landing bags provided safety when transitioning from the trampoline to the snow.
‘‘It is important for me that the landing bag is also close to an onsnow jump, so I can transition the trick from the bag to the jump in a short window of time,’’ the Olympic gold medalwinning snowboarder said.
Dryslope training facilities were common in other dominant snow sports nations, she said.
The dryslope training site is at the bottom of the Cardrona skifield access road on grazing land owned by Cardrona Valley Farms Ltd, a company associated with Jo Lee and Willy Scurr.
Ms Walker said the facility would be seen from Cardrona Valley Road, Meg Hut Pack Track, the Pisa Conservation Area, Cardrona River and its margins, the Cardrona skifield access road and Snow Farm access road.
No images had been provided to demonstrate the visibility of the facility once landscaping matured, she said.
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