The former owner of the Glenavy petrol station is accusing the local council of making a decision to redevelop the station based on who had the most money.
However, the Waimate District Council said the decision was based on differing potential effects on the environment.
Allied Petroleum has demolished the old Glenavy petrol station and a replacement station is due to open in mid-June.
Former site owner Gary Ford said the council had not allowed him to alter the place, and suggested it might have looked more favourably at Allied Petroleum's plans because that company had more to spend.
Mr Ford said he battled the council from about 2006 to 2009 to get permission to service trucks at the station.
He eventually lost, sold up and now ran the Maheno Service Centre Ltd.
When contacted, the council denied it was a case of the deepest pockets win.
The council's community planning and development group manager, Carolyn Johns, said the fundamental difference between Mr Ford's development and Allied's redevelopment was that Mr Ford was adding a new fuelling facility served from Pyke St.
"With the limited space at Pyke St, heavy vehicles were actually being refuelled while parked on the legal road. At the time, the new fuelling facility necessitated heavy vehicles, day and night, travelling around a block of residential streets to gain access to the new pump.''
There were complaints from some residents after the application for resource consent was notified on a limited basis.
An independent commissioner declined the application in 2008.
"The principal reason why the commissioner declined the application was that the new pump undermined the residential amenities of the residential streets.''
As a result, Mr Ford had to remove the above-ground fuel tank from that position.
While that process was going on, residents canvassed the council to impose a heavy vehicle restriction bylaw, which still applied in Parker St.
The Allied redevelopment was a complete redesign of the front forecourt, including demolition of the existing service station building and canopy, so there was sufficient space on the site for heavy vehicles to be refuelled without having to travel around the residential streets or be parked on the legal road.
Last year, Mr Ford told the Otago Daily Times Allied Petroleum was developing the site in the way he would have.
