New tourist attraction venture not taken lightly

The new tourist attraction will be in Redwood forest.

The process allowing a German couple to build and run a new tourist attraction in the Redwood Forest has taken almost two years to complete.

The Rotorua Daily Post has revealed a new tourist attraction in Rotorua's Redwood Forest would include a canopy walk, bush walk and sleeping pods for overnight stays.

The Rotorua District Council granted a licence to German couple Alexander Schmid and his wife Andrea to operate the new attraction to be known as Redwoods Outdoor Adventure Activities. They hope to start building their tree-walk feature in February, with completion by May or June next year.

The canopy walk and sleeping pod components are to be developed at a later date.

However, feedback from readers prompted a number of questions being asked about how the process occurred.

Rotorua District Council Tokorangi Forest manager Julianne Wilkinson said requests for proposals for adventure activities were advertised in February 2012.

Those proposals were assessed by a panel made up of representatives of the council, Central North Island Iwi Holdings Ltd and iwi representatives from Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao and Ngati Whakaue.

A preferred option was selected and further investigation undertaken, including business and market analysis and site analysis, she said.

This was then presented to council for final approval pending an environmental impact assessment and iwi and Department of Conservation approval.

"After all approvals were given a licence was negotiated with a number of conditions applied. From this point a resource and building consent is required and that process is currently underway," Mrs Wilkinson said.

She said the council, as holder of the Tokorangi Forest Crown Forest Licence, would receive a licence fee for the operation and those funds would be used to help support maintenance of forest tracks and facilities for the benefit of all users.

"Access won't be restricted, other than some minor track deviations for short periods for safety reasons during the construction phase.

"Once the walkway and pods are built the site will not require any restrictions and people will be able to freely walk underneath. The proposed tree walks won't follow the same routes as the existing track network, but will cross over the top of tracks at a couple of points.

"Locals will be able to continue to use all existing forest tracks and facilities at no charge. The new attractions will be user-pays. The operator's final price structure has yet to be finalised but a locals' rate is being considered."

Mrs Wilkinson said two other tree adventure operations were considered, including zip lines.

"It has been determined that the consent application is not required to be publicly notified so there is no provision for public submissions.

"Because the council has an interest in the activity through our management of the Tokorangi Forest, the council's processing of the consent application will be handed over to a commissioner for independent review before any approval is given.

"Approval for this activity was not undertaken lightly. A large number of parties have been involved and in the end all parties believe the activity fits well with the nature of this area of the forest ..." she said.