The comment came from acting council chief executive Stewart Burns yesterday following the announcement by Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden the council would "respect the court's decision", after the matter was discussed by councillors in an extraordinary meeting behind closed doors.
The consent for the supermarket and four fuel pumps was granted by Judge Jon Jackson earlier this month after Foodstuffs appealed an earlier council commissioner decision to decline the original resource consent application.
"Council has spent the last decade investing considerable resources into the strategy and planning for the Frankton Flat areas," Ms van Uden said.
"In this case, the commissioners made the right decision with regard to the fact that the selected site is zoned rural general, but the Environment Court was able to take more of an overview and this council respects the court's decision."
In the decision, Judge Jackson and two independent commissioners found "while the site itself is rural in character, the Frankton Flats as a whole are now non-rural in appearance" and disputed the council's claim the area was a "visual amenity landscape".
It was pointed out it was "common ground" among all parties the Frankton Flats area was "other rural landscape".
"Given this view, it is baffling that the council has maintained before us that the Frankton Flats are, after all, still a 'visual amenity landscape'," the decision said.
Ms van Uden said the council and the community now needed to understand what implications the decision might have for other Frankton Flats planning matters and infrastructure, in particular plan change 19, which remained before the Environment Court.
"Out of this decision we will be wanting to establish planning certainty around future use of the area," the mayor said.
"In particular, we will need to look at whether we have adequate provision for industrial-zoned land."
