A bulldozer sits on the Waiho River northern bank adjacent to the Franz Josef heliport in anticipation of the northern bank flood bank work. Photo: Supplied / West Coast Regional Council
A crucial hearing affecting the protection of Franz Josef township will finally get underway on Friday more than a year after work began on the $24 million Waiho Scheme.
The West Coast Regional Council let a contract in May 2022 to Greymouth contractor MBD for flood bank improvements and extensions on the Waiho true right bank, for the $12.5m first stage, but council soon ran into trouble.
Late last year as council tried to quickly resolve the necessary resource consents on a non-notified basis, the Scenic Hotel Group declined to give affected party approval.
Now a public hearing will convene in Greymouth on Friday, to hear from both sides. The hearing commissioner will first visit Franz Josef on Thursday.
According to papers filed for the hearing, Scenic Circle told the regional council in January it was not confident construction of the new flood resilience scheme demonstrated enough safeguards to allow them to rebuild the hotel with confidence.
Scenic pointed out that the stopbank below the township and behind the hotel had failed on 23 March, 2016 "following unauthorised and unconsented work" in the riverbed, including "the diversion of the river towards the hotel".
The Scenic Group's Mueller Wing, formerly the Tourist Hotel Corporation Franz Josef hotel, on March 23, 2016 after the Waiho River broke through its stop bank, inundating the hotel complex. Photo: LDR / Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
It did not state who had done that work but Scenic noted its insurers considered both the regional council and the Westland District Council and their respective contractors responsible for the subsequent flood damage.
"SHGL does not want to see a repeat of this in the riverbed and on the stop banks resulting in flooding or damage to its property in the future."
Scenic claimed it wished to rebuild a new hotel on the old site "but cannot do so" without being able to finance and insure the site due to the risk.
It also contended that what happened in 2016 was down to the regional council's "failure to maintain" the old stopbanks " and to prevent contractors and locals from excavating gravel" from the old stop bank area.
An aerial view of the flooded hotel. Photo: LDR / Greymouth Star / Brendon McMahon
Council had failed to "properly police and monitor" work in the riverbed prior to the 2016 event, and where gravel was taken, to ensure it did not endanger their property or that of third parties.
Council had also failed in its role to ensure resource consents were held by those doing the work.
It was important that the "the failures and processes of the past" were not repeated by the new scheme, Scenic said.
Since January the $30m claim by Scenic's insurers has been settled confidentially for an undisclosed sum by both councils.
In the meantime work on the northern flood bank improvement and extension by the West Coast Regional Council has slowed to a snail's pace.
Crucial to the planned work is the raising of the existing stopbank, and an extension by nearly 1km from the Franz Josef Heliport to below the derelict hotel site.
In the meantime council has had to go back to central government to reassure it that it is managing the situation, in order to keep its funding.
*Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
