It has come to light Upper Clutha Transport's gravel extraction operation in the Cardrona River bed includes a proposal to import up to 15,000cu m of gravel from other rivers for processing and stockpiling at two sites off Ballantyne Rd.
Queenstown Lakes District Council independent commissioners and those making submissions learned of the operational change at a resource consent hearing in Wanaka yesterday.
The company has been extracting gravel from the Cardrona River for at least 42 years.
The Otago Regional Council first allowed the company to take 20,000cu m, then 13,000cu m, from the Cardrona River for river management purposes.
Most recently, the ORC granted two-year consent to extract 5000cu m.
The variation in amount has been dictated by the extent of flooding and amount of gravel available for removal.
Until a few years ago, Upper Clutha Transport did not realise it also needed QLDC consent to stockpile and process gravel.
In 2005, it applied for QLDC consent to process 20,000cu m over 10 years.
The application, as advertised, did not state where all the gravel to be processed would come from.
While that has created a jurisdictional problem for the commissioners, Trevor Shiels and Lou Alfeld, they decided to continue hearing evidence yesterday.
The issues include whether the application inferred only gravel extracted from the Cardrona River would be processed at Ballantyne Rd and whether importing gravel to the site would cause traffic problems, Mr Shiels said.
He did not want to make a firm conclusion on jurisdiction straight away, but noted if the commissioners thought processing 20,000cu m of gravel was acceptable, the applicant might still need to apply for consent to bring in extra gravel from elsewhere.
"That's aired the issue, even if it has not resolved it," Mr Shiels said.
The applicant's lawyer, Russell Ibbotson, said more gravel had been available following the 1990 floods than was now there.
It would not be economically viable to limit processing 5000cu m, he said.
Furthermore, it would be "unfair and somewhat unjust" if the company had to apply every two years for QLDC consent.
It was conceivable at any time in the next 10 years 20,000cu m would again be available from the Cardrona River site, Mr Ibbotson said.
A local gravel source significantly reduced development and roading costs and the company had delivered direct and indirect benefits to the community over many years, including protecting the Ballantyne Rd bridge, he said.
Gravel extraction for river management purposes would continue at the direction of the ORC, regardless of whether the QLDC granted processing consent.
But it should be processed and made available to the community, Mr Ibbotson said.
The company was willing to reduce the height of stockpiles from 6m to 4m and set them back from Ballantyne Rd.
Actions would be taken to reduce dust and noise.
The only factors not outlined in the application were additional truck movements to import gravel, but extra material would still have to be brought to Wanaka anyway, Mr Ibbotson said.
It would take four to six weeks to process 20,000cu m of gravel and deliver it to company clients on demand.
The operation was not significant in terms of duration, size or scale, so a comprehensive transport management plan was not necessary, Mr Ibbotson said.
In effect, nothing would change in terms of landscape or visual amenities, so submissions would not be prejudiced, he said.
Company operations manager Chris Jopson and managing director John Reid gave evidence yesterday.
There were 19 opposing, three supporting and three neutral submissions.
Lakes Environmental staff have recommended the application be refused on dust, noise and visual grounds.
The hearing continues until Wednesday.
