14 December 2023
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Lakeland Queen jetty
Enquiry
I have spoken with Terry Hammond about the Lakeland Queen and what its future is.
I have some comment and some questions if these could please be responded to by 10am Thursday, thank you. Te Arawa will also be contacted.
The Hammonds feel as the lakefront was redeveloped and no longer able to use their jetty they have been forced out and the future of their business and retirement is in jeopardy.
They know their jetty needs repair but, even if they did, a boardwalk built directly behind it makes manoeuvring the boat safely impossible from this place, Hammond said.
Hammond said the council applied for shovel-ready funding in 2020 to construct new high-quality jetties, as an extension to the lakefront project. This was not successful.
The project information form notes given the uncertainty of Covid-19, iwi and private investors would put on hold plans for the jetties and other commercial buildings. The funding would mean to could go ahead as planned.
“Operators were intending to meet the full expense of establishing their own jetties, with a long-term lease to [Te Arawa Lakes Trust] which owns the lakebed.”
It said the impact of the Whakaari eruption as well as the pandemic placed “significant financial strain” on current operators.
Hammond said this referred to other operators, and not himself.
The application included designs showing how the jetties might be built - and Hammond said this was sent to him for his preference, and so the council knew his requirements on space to use his jetty.
The council also sought and was granted resource consent for the ongoing use, extension and maintenance of the existing jetty in 2021. Hammond said this could be transferred to him.
In the same year, power, water and wastewater connections were disconnected. Hammond said he was not notified and food was left to rot in the freezers in a maintenance shed on the jetty. He afterwards received an apology from the council, which he said forgot to tell him.
During the lakefront redevelopment operators’ offices were moved. Hammond said he was the only one told to pay, costing him $78,000.
The cost of a new jetty was finalised in 2022 and Hammond said council confirmed it would be him paying the $345,000 to $460,000 GST inclusive.Then he would need to gift it to iwi.
Hammond said he has “no idea why” and Te Arawa Lakes Trust, the lakebed owners, would then lease it to him. He understood he needed to pay for the jetty maintenance.
“The whole thing is preposterous”.
He said at the start of the project and in preliminary discussions he understood that a jetty would be built, and he would pay Te Arawa a lease to use it.
“Somehow it morphed into us paying and building the jetty after Shovel Ready funding was not approved.”
An email from Rob Pitkethley advised Hammond leasing gave the trust “more ability to manage any stranded or abandoned structures if there are changes to operators”.
The council paid the trust for a licence to occupy its sections of boardwalk that pass over the lake bed.
Hammond said Te Arawa Management Limited chief executive Cassandra Cowley told him Te Arawa did not want him to operate from his usual position so to not disturb the lake bed. This was also confirmed by Pitkethley, he said.
He said he was unable to discuss a suitable alternative with Cowley, with appointments cancelled and no future dates set.
The 76-year-old said he felt pushed out. He worried for the pair’s retirement.
“We haven’t had any income for three years. February 2020 when covid hit, all our traffic ceased,” Hammond said.
“I’ve been trying to make sense of it for a few years now. None of it makes sense.”
QUESTIONS
How much of the PGF funding and council contribution has been spent?
Were either not able to be used to build new jetties? Why, why was it not?
Was the existing Lakeland Queen jetty position taken into consideration when the lakefront development went ahead?
Any information the council perceives as important not covered in the above?
Any other comment?
Response
We provided the following, attributed to General Manager Infrastructure and Environment, Stavros Michael:
How much of the PGF funding and council contribution has been spent?
The Lakefront project is very near completion and to date approximately 95% of the budget has been spent.
Were either not able to be used to build new jetties? Why, why was it not?
The PGF and Council funding were for redevelopment of the lakefront’s public spaces and facilities, not construction of commercial jetties.
RLC does not fund the cost of constructing jetties used exclusively by commercial operators.
Mr Hammond is well aware of the council’s position in this regard and has been informed that the cost of replacing the jetty would sit with him, as the commercial operator. The same applies to all commercial operators.
The required process through Te Arawa Lakes Trust has also been explained to him. This applies to all jetties at the lakefront, including council’s.
Was the existing Lakeland Queen jetty position taken into consideration when the lakefront development went ahead?
Yes and there was additional expense as part of Stage 5 construction to provide for an underwater protection barrier between the boardwalk and the Lakeland Queen jetty.
Any information the council perceives as important not covered in the above?
The council has done all that it can to assist Mr Hammond.
Staff have had numerous discussions with Mr Hammond over several years and he has been advised of council’s position regarding the jetty and the process required if he wishes to repair or replace it.
Along with ongoing correspondence and discussions, assistance provided by council to date has included:
- Applying in 2020 to Central Government’s Shovel Ready fund to enable construction of additional lakefront facilities including commercial buildings and jetties, including for the Lakeland Queen. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful;
- Commissioning, at RLC cost, potential concept designs for a new commercial jetty for Lakeland Queen;
- Waiving slippage charges for having the Lakeland Queen in dry dock at Motutara Point, where it has been since late October 2021;
- Providing multiple extensions for the permit for slippage at Motutara Point to enable Mr Hammond to progress options for the sale or removal of his vessel from the site;
- Waiving rent for lakefront operators, including Lakeland Queen, and promoting their businesses during work that impacted on the spaces from which they operated;
- Contributing in 2021 to the cost of the removal of the Lakeland Queen building;
- Covering the cost of removal of old sheds from the Lakeland Queen jetty;
- Renewing the Lakeland Queen jetty resource consent as part of overall lakefront consents (consent was to be transferred back once lakefront redevelopment was finished and the jetty was fit-for-purpose).
- Undertaking an independent engineer’s assessment of commercial jetties at the lakefront, including the Lakeland Queen wharf. Undertaken in early 2022, it concluded the Lakeland Queen jetty was in “poor” to “unsatisfactory” condition and recommended repair work or replacement to be carried out;
- Offering to remove, at council’s expense, the old Lakeland Queen jetty at the conclusion of construction of the boardwalk. This offer was not taken up;
- Offering to cover the cost of consenting if/when Mr Hammond builds a new jetty;
- Using council contractors this year to repair loose boards on the jetty after pieces broke off and became a navigational hazard in the lake.
Clarifications:
Re: Hammond said the council applied for shovel-ready funding in 2020 to construct new high-quality jetties, as an extension to the lakefront project. This was not successful.
The application was for construction of commercial buildings (tourism and hospitality precinct) and high quality commercial jetties and development of Ohinemutu Village (destination infrastructure).
Re: The council also sought and was granted resource consent for the ongoing use, extension and maintenance of the existing jetty in 2021. Hammond said this [consent] could be transferred to him.
Mr Hammond previously held a consent allowing for a jetty for his business and transferred it to RLC to get it renewed. It was then to be transferred back once the lakefront redevelopment was finished and the jetty was fit-for-purpose.
Re: power, water and wastewater connections being disconnected.
Contractors cut off power and water as part of construction, not realising there was a freezer in sheds on the jetty which, at that time, had not been occupied for over 12 months.
Re: During the lakefront redevelopment operators’ offices were moved. Hammond said he was the only one told to pay, costing him $78,000.
As above, RLC contributed to the cost of the removal of the Lakeland Queen building.
Re: He said at the start of the project and in preliminary discussions he understood that a jetty would be built, and he would pay Te Arawa a lease to use it.
Council has at no time said it would build a jetty for the Lakeland Queen operation. An application submitted by RLC for Government funding included funding for new jetties, including one for Lakeland Queen, but the application was not successful.
Re: The council paid the trust for a licence to occupy its sections of boardwalk that pass over the lake bed.
RLC pays a rental for a licence to occupy the lakebed for the sections of boardwalk that run over the bed of the lake.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Media: NewsTalk ZB
Topic: High lake levels
Enquiry
I was wondering if I could talk to someone in an over the phone interview with someone about Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes still at record levels.
Reporter indicated the following line of questions:
What are the lake levels looking like now and how are they expected to change over summer?
What dangers does this create and what should people keep in mind?
What alternatives are there for people wanting to get out on the water?
Response
The reporter was redirected to Bay of Plenty Regional Council