Barry Monks opposes the Waitaki District Council's Forrester Heights subdivision of 22 residential sections on 5.8ha of land on Cape Wanbrow, overlooking Oamaru Harbour.
The council, through a local Bill before Parliament, is seeking to clarify the status of the land which, it says, should be endowment land and was incorrectly designated reserve land in 1937.
Mr Monks has never agreed with that, and said this week he had new evidence about the early history of the Forrester Heights land, which indicated it had always been a reserve.
His recent research revealed an October 1878 letter to the Oamaru mayor of the day from an under-secretary to the Minister of Lands which said the minister, under the Lands Act, did not have the power to "change a reserve into endowment".
Mr Monks said that evidence might not have been considered by the Department of Conservation in a legal opinion which supported the council's contention the reserve status was a mistake.
"That also suggests the Forrester Heights land may have become a reserve as early as the 1860s, with records indicating local councils since then have treated the land as a reserve." The council's lease documents to graze sheep on the site identified it as "Lower Lookout Point Reserve" and stated categorically the land was public reserve and the lessee must allow public access.
Mr Monks said he remained unconvinced an error was made in 1937, as claimed by the council.
The Waitaki District Council Reserves and Other Land Empowering Bill has passed its first reading in Parliament and is before the Local Government and Environment Select Committee, which has called for public submissions closing on July 26.
Mr Monks said the select committee must determine whether the Forrester Heights land was reserve or whether that was an error. He urged people with knowledge or information about the site to make a submission to the select committee.
