The Central Otago District Council has come under fire for its moves to exclude the stone as a finish on new rural houses.
The council's new planning rules governing building in rural areas say Oamaru stone is too visible and too reflective.
"I just can't get over what these people have said - it's been ridiculous. I've never heard anyone say it's got too much glare with it.
"To me, I reckon it was a pretty cruel thing to say about the stone," Mr Dooley, who still works with his sons John and Kerry at Dooleys Masonry in Oamaru, said this week.
Those suggesting the change had "no idea what they are talking about" and there would be more glare off the lakes in Central Otago, he suggested.
He had not spoken to anyone who was in favour of the change.
Kerry Dooley said stone was a natural product which weathered and blended into the environment.
A lot of the stone was the colour of the Central Otago tussock country.
There were natural deposits of limestone all over the countryside.
"You've got houses sitting in rural areas over there that have been there for years. What are they going to do about them? Are they [the council] going to make them paint them?" he asked.
After exposure to the elements, the stone mellowed and blended into the surroundings, John Dooley added.
In August, the council's planning manager, Louise van der Voort, said since the district plan changes took effect on October 12 last year, there had been no applications for rural homes built from Oamaru stone.
"Why would anyone apply when on plan change 5N to the Central Otago District Plan it clearly states . . . all buildings shall be finished in any of the following materials . . . stone, excluding Oamaru stone," Bob Wilson, a director of Parkside Quarries, the home of Oamaru stone, said.
During that period, at least four prospective clients wishing to use Oamaru stone in rural Central Otago were advised they were unable to do so.
Some people tended to read headlines "or hear what they wanted to hear" and form opinions without reading or listening to the full story, he said.
"We have had a North Island [local body] councillor visit the quarry recently stating that Parkside had a substantial outlay of machinery and plant involved in a business that was eventually going to be closed down by a local government department."
A submission from the Upper Clutha branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society submitted it should not be permitted as it was not an Otago stone.
"As one of our supporting submissions replied, `a dumb submission from a party which should clearly stick to its knitting'," Mr Wilson said.
Any masonry finish, especially natural stone, was only as good as the architect draughting the design and the stonemason who built it and, like all stone, Oamaru stone was enduring, Mr Wilson said.
"Today's architects and builders have the latest technology at their disposal. Properly built and treated, Oamaru stone will survive the ages unscathed as it has for the past 150 years."
