Charges over Skyline landslip
Skyline Enterprises and two other companies are due to appear in court next month over one of the massive landslips on Bob's Peak last September.
Queenstown Lakes District Council confirmed on Friday it has filed charges for alleged breaches of the Resource Management Act.
The landslips brought logs, mud, stones and debris down Ben Lomond Reserve into Brecon St, through Queenstown Cemetery, and down to Reavers Lane, off Gorge Rd, after a month's worth of rain fell in 24 hours.
On the night, more than forty people had to be evacuated from their homes and a local state of emergency was declared. It took three months of painstaking work to restore the cemetery, with 700 tons of silt and debris removed and gravestones repaired.
In Reavers Lane, to the right of the hill when seen from town, 10 properties were red-stickered and two yellow-stickered, including a day care centre, and cars were damaged.
Contractors had logged the front face of the hill to create a path for Skyline's new gondola and for a firebreak, while a construction firm worked to upgrade the top terminal, including significant earthworks.
The charges relate to the landslip that affected Reavers Lane.
"Queenstown Lake District Council has commenced a prosecution relating to activities that allegedly contributed to the slip that occurred on the Ben Lomond Reserve that affected Reavers Lane on 22 September 2023," a QLDC spokesperson says.
"It has filed charges against three companies for alleged breaches of the Resource Management Act 1991. "As the matter is before Court, the Council will not be commenting further at this stage."
The defendants are due to appear in the Queenstown District Court on 21 October, 2024. QLDC has not named the companies it has filed charges against, and those companies could potentially apply for name suppression.
But Skyline Enterprises chief executive Geoff McDonald confirmed it is one of the companies charged.
"We are disappointed to receive notification that Skyline are to be the subject of regulatory action as a result of weather-related incidents that occurred last year.
"Immediately following the incident last year, Skyline committed to supporting Queenstown Lakes District Council’s clean-up activities and have worked in association with Council in the remediation of the slope below Skyline.
He says the tourism giant acknowledges "the distress that the events have caused in the community".
Skyline has applied for resource consent for more remedial works on the hill, including removing 3000 cubic metres of material.
