The Dunedin City Council is also worried it may have to allow development in inappropriate places and carry out poorly planned and inefficient infrastructure spending.
Cr David Benson-Pope said Dunedin had a district plan that looked to maintain a compact city and resisted "wanton, random development in areas that are not cost-effective to service".
The plan resisted "extremely wasteful" urban sprawl, he said.
Urban sprawl refers to expansion of cities and towns into surrounding rural areas and is characterised by low-density development, increased reliance on cars and, often, poorly planned growth.
"Please, let’s not go there," Cr Benson-Pope said.
Cr Jim O’Malley said there was a perceived shortage of land for cheap housing in the "golden triangle" — Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty — and Auckland had expanded past Drury.
He was worried this "vision of what a good city looks like, which is certainly not a vision that I hold, is now going to be imposed upon everybody".
The councillors’ comments came as the council approved a submission this week to the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Housing and Urban Development about part of the government’s resource management reform programme.
One of the government’s pillars for housing growth is freeing up land for urban development, including removing unnecessary planning barriers.
The reform programme was described as an overreaction.
"Applying a one-size-fits-all approach across New Zealand that is driven by an incorrect assumption about a widespread shortage of land supply, and high growth rates, risks undermining effective and context-sensitive planning," the council said.
"The DCC is concerned that the focus of the resource management system design on addressing problems in fast-growing parts of the North Island will mean that less time and attention will be given to addressing issues that are important for towns and cities in the South Island."
Dunedin was experiencing relatively modest growth, largely managed within its existing footprint.
The city was facing significant infrastructure challenges, such as the age and capability of parts of its Three Waters networks.
It was essential that development was directed towards locations that were cost-effective for infrastructure investment in the long term, the council said.
Providing for unanticipated or out-of-sequence development proposals could significantly affect funding and delivery of public infrastructure.
"If councils have limited discretion to decline such proposals, there is heightened risk of inefficient and costly infrastructure solutions that may have an impact on rates for decades."
Cr Lee Vandervis voted against the council’s submission.
