Debate over the Lovelock Ave realignment continued on the third day of the Dunedin City Council annual plan hearing yesterday.
The subject has proven to be the most debated topic at this year's hearing, with 160 submissions received, and continued yesterday, with a number of submitters arguing for the realignment, after councillors heard earlier in the week mainly from opponents.
Friends of the Botanic Garden committee member Jeremy Shearer told councillors the realignment would free up space within the garden for future development, needed to protect the garden's international reputation.
He said the realignment resulted from "pretty sound planning" and rejected the concerns - including sunstrike and other safety fears - raised by opponents.
"I can't reinforce that enough.
"We don't particularly like taking on difficult projects just for fun."
He also stressed the city would not be losing a scenic drive, as the replacement route would be as good, if not better, than the original.
"I implore the council to stick with the vision.
"It's a one-in-100 year opportunity ... if we don't get it right this time, we have really lost the opportunity."
Earlier, Dunedin man Jason Kelly - the past chairman of the New Zealand Gardens Trust and Fellow of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture - said the garden was among the world's top 10 botanic gardens, but needed to continue to move forward.
He believed councillors had been targeted by lobbying from those opposed to the realignment, and urged them to "be very careful about being captured by the squeaky wheel".
His concerns echoed those of Eric Dunlop, who on Tuesday told councillors they should not be swayed by "very vocal submitters whose arguments were unanimously rejected by the [resource consent] hearing panel".
Mr Dunlop, of Mosgiel, a life member of the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden, said opponents needed to realise change was going to occur at the garden, and the city had the opportunity for a development that would benefit the whole community.
"The many loyal members of the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden, as well as a very large section of the general public, will have reason to be aggrieved if the council withdraws, or further delays release of the funding."
However, Molly Anderson, of Dunedin, on Tuesday accused the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden of having "over-stepped the mark" in pushing for the road's realignment.
"They have wrongly assumed the power to take away from us all the right to drive through a beautiful section of the Town Belt on a public road created expressly for our use and enjoyment."
Judy Egerton, of Leith St North, urged the council to leave the route of the realignment as it was, with its peace and quiet by the edge of the bush.
