Amie Pont

Although I have not lived permanently in the Central Lakes area, my family (the Sapsford’s from Invercargill) owned cribs in Kelvin Heights and Frankton for over 50 years, my mother attended primary school in Queenstown, and her parents owned a dairy across from the old ‘Bottle House’ back in the day.  I have watched and experienced the growth first hand.

Q1 It is well known that one of the key contributors to the historic issues with Lake Hayes water quality has been from upstream land development. What is your position on intensification in the Lake Hayes catchment area?

Without full working knowledge of the Lake Hayes plans I can only provide more generalised comments.  I would be cautious of substantial intensification until the community is comfortable with proposed plans to mitigate any negative social and environmental impacts.  Having been involved in catchment work in several areas in the regional at a volunteer, professional and governance level we are now seeing the positive effects on water quality.  Whether any catchment work has the ability to keep up with further upstream intensification would be the issue.

Q2a Do you consider the current Coronet Village Fast-Track application that includes 780 residences positive or negative?

Neutral.  

Q2b Why do you say that?

I am reserved about fast tracking in general.  Land use and urban growth vary greatly area to area, and it is obvious even the most effective planning has struggled to keep up with rapid development.  Effective consultation needs time unfortunately and by-passing or adding time restrictions to already busy expert organisations is risky. 

Q3 What infrastructure would you like to see in place to address our traffic and sewerage issues in Queenstown? Please provide specific examples.

Queenstown has struggled to keep up with the speed of growth.  The traffic and sewerage issues prove this and the flow on effects (pun intended) are regionally significant.  During extreme congestion times better enforcement and communication of public transport/shuttle options and alternative route development from Frankton into Queenstown (via Arthurs Point) is needed.  Positive visitor experiences are in jeopardy so the exploration and promotion of the use of public transport (potential expansion of the water taxi services) is needed to reduce the number of private/rental vehicles into town.  

Disposal of sewerage to land seems out of reach in the short term but cannot be ruled out.  Any development projects should not be given the option to dispose to water going forward, potentially including septic systems in planning.  Investment in technological advancements to ensure quality of disposal into our lakes and streams must be prioritised.  

Any potential growth in the area needs to be limited until our core environmental and social objectives are under control.