A resource consent application has been lodged to develop three stand-alone commercial activities: GJ Gardner Homes; Hell Pizza and Thirsty Liquor.
The site, at the corner of Andersons Bay Rd and Strathallan St, is on the same block in which a Mad Butcher store is expected to open by the end of April.
The site is zoned industrial 1, and commercial activities such as those proposed, "are not specifically provided for in the industrial 1 zone rules of the district plan", the consent notice said.
Because of that, the application was a non-complying activity.
Dunedin City Council planner Jeremy Grey has recommended in a report to a hearings committee the consent should be granted, but his recommendation comes with a considerable caveat.
It was "my own personal view", and he said the hearings committee may well take a different view, "given the issues at play".
Those issues related to the possibility the Andersons Bay Rd area was reaching "a tipping point", where its character had changed significantly from one of industry to one of "destination-type retail and food outlets".
Recent council hearings on the city's spatial plan included calls from land- and business-owners arguing that the retail activity in the area should be consolidated within the district plan.
Mr Grey's report said while the proposal meant there would be more retail activities in the industrial area, they were in keeping with businesses already there.
The site is a former car-sales yard.
Senior planner Campbell Thomson said yesterday car and boat sales were allowed in an industrial zone.
But there were questions about the effect of allowing the proposed businesses.
"That's what the issue is about," he said, "to what extent change is occurring."
The ratepayer of the property is Minaret Property Investments, of which Andrew Simms, of Mosgiel, is shown on the New Zealand Companies Office website as director.
A hearing on the issue will take place in Dunedin on March 8, before city councillors Colin Weatherall, Andrew Noone and Kate Wilson.
