A paper road through Corbridge Farm could be used for general public access to Rekos Point conservation area on the Clutha River should Stevensons Rd landowners fail to reach an access agreement with the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
However, it is not clear yet whether the council needs to pursue it.
QLDC chief executive Duncan Field yesterday said arguments over the costs of sealing the road ‘‘seem to be resolved'', but the landowners were considering issues surrounding general access rights.
‘‘We do have another option. Stevensons Rd goes through to the highway [State Highway 6] across other land . . . ‘‘But the first thing is for them [the landowners] to come back and tell us what their thinking is. The second issue is whether that is adequate and how we will deal with it from there,'' he said.
Some of the 17 landowners in the Poplar Beach subdivision locked horns with the council last week over a portion of Stevensons Rd that is actually a private right of way.
Gates have prevented general vehicle access along Stevensons Rd since the Thursday before Easter, but the QLDC now has access to go about its business at Wanaka Airport and the Project Pure construction site.
Foot and cycle access for recreational and fishing purposes is being allowed.
Mr Field said the council had been conciliatory in yesterday's meeting with the Stevensons Rd landowners and agreed to honour an Environment Court-mediated agreement regarding the estimated $450,000 cost (landowners contributing up to $100,000) of sealing the road according to roading standards at that time.
Engineers want to create a wider road to meet new QLDC roading standards that could increase costs by up to $600,000. The landowners are refusing to pay the difference in meeting the new standard.
‘‘I will brief the council [at today's meeting in Wanaka]. The council still has the choice if it wants to meet that extra cost,'' Mr Field said.
The QLDC owns land off Stevensons Rd and asserts it has the legal right to use the private right of way, although the landowners have argued the council has no such right.
It is understood the landowners have reserved their position on that point.
Mr Field said the general public could not insist on general vehicle access by virtue of the council having access to the right-of-way.
Public access for angling purposes was specifically set out in the Poplar Beach resource consent condition, as requested by the Otago Fish and Game Council, he said.
‘‘We have asked [the landowners] to consider what can be done about that [general vehicle access] and they have gone away to think about that,'' he said.
Another issue that still needed to be worked out was road signs to clarify the road's status.
The landowners had been asked to consider how they could protect against trespassers who spotlighted and hooned over empty sections in the subdivision, while continuing to provide fishing access, Mr Field said.
Emergency services and disabled access to the river had also been discussed.
Landowner Mark Fraundorfer, of Tauranga, last night said emergency service access would be granted.
