Our QLDC Lakeview questions - Deadline, Friday August 15.

This is a full copy (below) of the letter sent to key elected members (Mayor and Deputy Mayor) and CEO/project/communication managers at the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

“Mr Mike Theelen, CEO, Queenstown Lakes District Council, 10 Gorge Road, Queenstown 9370. By Email.

Cc: Glyn Lewers, Quentin Smith, Meaghan Miller, Paul Speedy, Naell Crosby-Roe.

Urgent request for information on the QLDC Lakeview Project. Deadline 10.00 am Friday, August 15.

Dear Mr Theelen,

You will be aware that Crux has already published nine parts of a ten part investigation into the QLDC’s Lakeview project, using Google’s Pinpoint investigative journalism tools.

Part 10 will be published at 4.00 pm on Friday August 15 to be featured as QLDC’s response to parts 1 to 9.

To assist with your response we include the following questions below as a guide. Please don’t limit your reply to our questions, but we would also ask that you avoid any statements that cannot be fact checked – including speculation on future, potential “super profits” that depend on complex formulas that have not been disclosed to the community and which may not happen due to the uncertain nature of “profits” that can be affected by a multitude of construction/development circumstances and costs beyond the control of QLDC.

• Including the current value of the Lakeview land, the expenditure on all Lakeview connected pre-construction infrastructure (including roads), the cost of the transaction and the diminishing value (inflation/cost of money/lost opportunity costs) of fixed revenue over time, what is your current profit and loss number for the Lakeview project? Please provide a detailed breakdown and some explanatory narrative.

• Is your position that there is 100% zero connection between the $128 million Arterial Road Stage 1 and the $15 million Thompson Street upgrade (partial arterial stage 3) with the Lakeview development?

• Why was a fully finished extension of Isle Street built (with benches, street lighting, landscaping and rubbish bins for pedestrians) by QLDC when Lakeview construction machinery will effectively destroy this road – if construction gets underway? Who is liable for such damage if construction goes ahead? What did this roading project cost?

• Is there provision in the Development Agreement for the current value of the land or just the historic value of the land? If such a provision does not exist can you explain why?

• Can you breakdown the money spent on Lakeview so far, more specifically than just one line item presented to the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee?

• Can you detail the intended use, or sale, for the $1 million of pavers and kerb stones currently stored at the Lakeview site? This question has not been answered in spite of two requests to date.

• If, as Crux research indicates, QLDC has sustained a very substantial loss on this project, including loss of land valued at $42 million in 2017, what will be the consequences in terms of public accountability? This question assumes that “lessons learned” will not satisfy community concern given the scale of the losses and the considerable period of time that was available to wholly or partially mitigate this loss.

Thank you for your time in addressing these questions and adding your own responses to our nine part Lakeview investigation published so far.

It is likely that all ten parts of our investigation will be published both nationally and internationally given the role played by the Google Pinpoint investigative journalism system in our work. Parts 1 – 9 have already achieved over 45,000 page views on our Substack channel.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter. The questions have been carefully designed to ensure that all information needed to produce answers is readily available to the QLDC well within our deadline of 10.00 am Friday August 15. This is specifically not an LGOIMA request.

Best regards,

Peter Newport, Managing Editor.”