An Invercargill businessman yesterday argued Dunedin needed to be more business-friendly, and said working with the Invercargill City Council was "a piece of cake" compared with working with its Dunedin equivalent.
Colin Clay took his plan to develop a business park with possible liquor, wholesale fruit and vegetable, and food-takeaway outlets, a medical centre and industrial activities, on the corner of Portsmouth Dr and Orari St, to a Dunedin City Council resource consent hearing yesterday.
Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises were among seven opponents calling for the application to be declined.
Council planner Kirstyn Lindsay agreed, and argued granting consent would create an undesirable precedent.
A central issue city councillors Colin Weatherall, Andrew Noone and Richard Walls will have to consider is whether to allow what some have argued would be a retail development in an industrial-zoned area, in a city where industrial land is at a premium.
Planning consultant Keith Hovell, for the C&C Clay Family Trust, said he believed there was at present no industrial zone in the area; instead it was a mixed-use zone.
"This area is beyond being an industrial zone."
The council needed "a bit more vision" in terms of where South Dunedin was going.
He produced a list of activities that should be allowed on the site, which included everything from farm machinery to plumbing supplies sales.
Mr Hovell argued while there was a crisis in supply of industrial land in Dunedin, that had arisen from the expansion of large-scale retail such as Bunnings, and rezoning of land for the Forsyth Barr Stadium and the harbourside development.
He said the development did not preclude industrial use in the future.
Mr Clay said if there was growth in Dunedin, the area would need to become more commercial in use.
That was already happening with Mitre 10 Mega and Bunnings moving there.
He criticised the report from the planner, which he said appeared to be "a straight no".
"There's no meeting halfway. That seems unusual to me."
Working with the Invercargill City Council was "a piece of cake" compared with the DCC.
He felt Dunedin could double its size in the next 10 to 20 years, if it was more open to business.
No opposing submitters appeared at the hearing, but in its submission, supermarket company Foodstuffs said the proposal was contrary to the council's strategy under which retailing was restricted to certain zones.
The list of activities "does not disguise the fact that the development is proposing almost pure retailing".
The submission asked for the consent to be declined, unless it was restricted to wholesale trading only, or trade or industrial activities.
Progressive Enterprises raised concerns about the effect on the roading network, while other submitters were concerned about the loss of industrial land.
Mr Hovell responded in his view that Foodstuffs' argument was on business competition grounds, and should not be considered by the consent committee.
He ended his submission with many photographs of retail and other activities in the industrial zone.
"It's a mixed-use area; there are many commercial activities there."
The committee adjourned to consider the application.
