QAC lodged a 417-page resource consent application with Lakes Environmental on Wednesday, just days after the Queenstown Lakes District Council-controlled trading organisation accepted the bulk of the recommendations by independent commissioners to allow for the resa.
QAC applied to extract up to 1,070,000cu m of gravel from the Shotover delta within an area 300m to 500m wide and 1590m long on the true left bank of the river. The gravel would be used to construct an engineered fill that the safety area would be built on to the east of the runway.
There would be continuous gravel extraction for up to 19 months of about 3200cu m per day.
Resa construction was to be undertaken within the proposed amended airport designation area and was not subject to the consent application, the document stated.
The corporation applied for a five-year land use consent to undertake construction activities outside the designated area, including gravel extraction starting downstream of the State Highway 6A bridge and extending to the confluence of the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers.
The corporation sought consent to build "various temporary embankments and low-flow channels containing the river away from construction sites" and excavate the toe of the delta for the second-busiest airport in New Zealand for take-offs and landings.
QAC wants to extract over open areas of the delta and remove vegetated areas to extract underneath. Extraction would generally progress upstream.
The airport sought consent to stockpile gravel if required, construct haul routes within the delta and fill in unused areas of the delta.
It wants permission for gravel extraction at night once the resa was constructed to within 4m of the top of the engineered fill.
Submissions close on November 13.
The application was subject to a separate resource consent application to the Otago Regional Council but both consent hearings would occur together.
Resa facts
• The Civil Aviation Authority requires runway end safety areas (resa) at all New Zealand international airports, and Queenstown Airport must have its resa in place by October 2011 to secure international flights.
• In the year ending June 30 this year, the number of international passengers using Queenstown Airport rose to 62,276, a 16% rise. There was a lift of 15% in international flights, with a load factor of 78%, an improvement of 1.1 percentage points year on year.
• A resa is a prepared area of land to prevent an aircraft undershooting or over-running the runway. It is designed to take the full weight of any aircraft anticipated to operate at Queenstown.
• There would be provision for access by emergency vehicles from the airport to the Shotover delta.
• The proposed Queenstown resa would be 90m long, 90m wide and 45m high from the level of the delta to the level of the existing runway. It would take 16 to 27 months to complete.
• A corridor linking Glenda Dr with Hawthorne Dr would be provided for a future scenic road around the Resa terrace.
