The QLDC is refusing to water the 1.6ha park for the second consecutive summer, citing a lack of resources.
The Wanaka Community Board this month backed QLDC parks and operations manager Mike Weaver's recommendation to no longer water the park, which does not have an in-ground irrigation system.
However, Quentin Smith, who lives across from the park, said the decision was unacceptable and its impact was considerable.
''By February last season the field was a dustbowl, which has had a dramatic impact on the condition and the quality of the turf, and the weeds have increased with broom and other weeds dominating.''
The park was an important and well-used community reserve for the Mt Iron area and designated as a junior sports field, meaning the council had to manage it accordingly and not let it fall into ''complete disrepair'', Mr Smith said.
''While I appreciate the resourcing issue, the decision to abandon the management of a reserve, contrary to a reserve plan of management, is not within the authority of the community board or indeed even the council without amendment to the Reserve Management Plan.
''They wouldn't do it for the Queenstown Recreation Ground, they wouldn't do it for other high-profile reserves, they can't do it here just because it's out in the 'burbs. They've got the same obligations as they do anywhere else.''
Mr Smith believed there was a ''direct correlation'' between the commissioning of the new playing fields at Kellys Flat, on Plantation Rd, and the abandonment of all watering and weed control at Allenby Park before the 2013-14 summer.
Kerry Poots, who lives next to Allenby Park, said its condition was a ''disgrace''.
''There's lots of locals feel the same way about it ... I believe that we all pay our parks and reserves rates and just because they start another park up ... they ditch one off the list.''
Mr Smith said the council still carried out minimal mowing of the reserve and a ''token watering'' came late in the season last year following complaints from residents, but it was not enough.
He emailed community board members last week requesting immediate watering and management of the park and an ongoing management schedule consistent with the reserves management plan, before it was too late and the cost of repairing the park became unmanageable.
As a last resort, he and Mr Poots were willing to mobilise the Mt Iron community to operate a council-supplied surface irrigation system.
''But ultimately we're just asking for it to get managed in the way it's required to be,'' Mr Smith said.
Deputy mayor and community board member Lyal Cocks was not at this month's board meeting where the irrigation of Allenby Park was discussed, but he planned to raise the issue of water management and service levels with other board members and Mr Weaver, who is on leave.
''I would like to sort out something with the neighbours there like we did at McMurdo Park [in Albert Town],'' Mr Cocks said.
''If we can provide some of the gear, they can put a bit of water on themselves. But that's not my call yet. That's the way I'd like to see it evolve.''
The 2008 QLDC reserve management plan for Allenby Park, Lismore Park and Kellys Flat, in Wanaka, says the council will: ''Preserve in perpetuity ... [the parks] as recreational areas for the enjoyment of Wanaka residents and visitors.''
Referring specifically to Allenby Park, the plan says an automated irrigation system will be designed and installed ''as resources permit''.
