A stoush is brewing over whether the Kiwi Water Park can operate its inflatable amusement park on Lake Dunstan this summer.
The problem stems from a misunderstanding between the operator and Land Information New Zealand (Linz) as to the length of a recreational permit, the water park company assuming it would run as long as its resource consent.
The company was originally granted resource consent from the Central Otago District Council (CODC) for six years, and variations were made last year to move the park to a more sheltered area.
CODC communications co-ordinator Maria de Cort said the council planning and regulatory manager was unable to respond to queries until Monday afternoon, but the water park also required a recreational permit from Linz.
Linz said in January it had granted a recreational permit to operate the water park until March 31, 2022.
Kiwi Park co-owner and marketing manager Emily Rutherford, who operates the park with her mother, Janet Rutherford, said yesterday Linz signed an "effective party approval" when Kiwi Park sought resource consent.
"We assumed the permit was for six years," she said.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency was not consulted in relation to the initial consent process, southern media manager Frances Adank said.
In the first season — 2020-21 — a serious crash occurred at the entrance to the car park, which allows access to the water park, the public boat-ramp, toilet facilities, picnic area, freedom camping and recreation reserve.
Waka Kotahi installed temporary traffic management for the remainder of the season.
At the end of the first season the water park proposed its new location and sought revised resource consent. Through that process, conditions were added to the consent, requiring improved access signage and fencing and a report at the end of the season to determine if any upgrade was required.
The report concluded a right-turn bay was required to ensure safe and efficient access from the state highway.
The conditions on the consent required the right-turn bay to be installed by November 2022 in advance of the 2022-23 season.
Kiwi Water Park, the council, Linz and Waka Kotahi met last June to discuss the conclusions of the traffic assessment. All agreed with the conclusions but there was disagreement on who was responsible for funding the upgrade.
If no agreement was reached on the access upgrade requirement process, the consent conditions stipulate that the final decision sits with the council as the consent authority.
Emily Rutherford said they had been trying to get a decision on the permit from Linz since last summer, and wrote to Land Information Minister Damien O’Connor this month "in desperation".
Mr O’Connor said Linz was still considering the application.
Kiwi Water Park was willing to contribute to the cost of a right-turning bay, Ms Rutherford said, but not while its permit was only year by year with no security.
A response from Linz had not been received by deadline.
