A Wanaka couple have been left wondering if it is safe for them to plant a vegetable garden in front of their new Northlake house.
Lindsey Turner and Andrew Thompson paid $268,000 for a section in the subdivision two and a-half years ago.
Three months ago they moved into their house and set to work landscaping their section.
Ms Turner said it was only after reading an Otago Daily Times article last month they realised their section might be implicated in a chemical cleanup facing the developers of neighbouring sections.
Ms Turner said a map of the area she had since discovered showed part of their 5000sq m property was on land once occupied by the Iron Hill Timber Treatment Plant, at the corner of Aubrey and Outlet Rds.
Northlake developer Michaela Meehan has applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for resource consent to remove 2750cu m of soil contaminated with arsenic from almost a dozen sections.
According to the consent application, consultants for the developer took soil samples from 97 locations.
Ms Turner is concerned no testing was done on her section, and she cannot be certain it is free of arsenic.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council's project information memorandum (PIM) lists as one of her section's hazards the area's historical association with timber-treatment chemicals.
While the PIM says the Otago Regional Council advised the council the section had been "remediated to a standard suitable for residential use'', she had been unable to find any information about what remediation was done.
As well, Ms Turner said she was "stunned'' to learn the developers wanted to bury the contaminated soil in an "encapsulation cell'' beneath a nearby road reserve " ... where kids will be playing and surrounded by residential houses''.
"The stuff needs to be removed off site and disposed of correctly in a landfill which has been built for such a purpose,'' she said.
The soil occupied by the timber mill was found to contain carbendazim, copper, chromium, boron and arsenic, with only arsenic levels exceeding national environmental standards.
Ms Turner said she planned to have her section tested for arsenic.
A woman who had paid a 10% deposit for a section "close to'' the timber mill site three years ago, and was awaiting title, said the first she knew of the contamination issue was when she read about it in the ODT.
Another purchaser of a section in the affected area, who was also awaiting title, said he was told "up front'' of the contamination issue when he paid his deposit.
Northlake did not respond to ODT requests for comment.
