Queenstown businessman Graham Wilkinson applied for resource consent in 2017 to subdivide an 8.9ha site near Nevis Bluff into six residential lots and a commercial lot.
The proposal by his company, Gibbston Vines Ltd, was rejected by Queenstown Lakes District Council commissioners in 2018, prompting an Environment Court appeal.
The site, adjoining the Gibbston Highway and Gibbston Back Rd, is surrounded by commercial vineyards.
The proposal has been dogged by the perceived potential for "reverse sensitivity", in which new residents complain about the activities of established vineyards.
In its second decision on the appeal in March last year, the Environment Court turned down the six residential lots but left the door open for a commercial lot.
The company immediately lodged a High Court appeal and, last December, applied for a rehearing of the Environment Court decision.
Gibbston Vines argued that consent was "new and important evidence" because the risk of the fans not being consented had been a key reason why its subdivision proposal was turned down and that risk no longer existed.
Further, the type of fan approved, and therefore the predicted noise effects on neighbours, was different from the type considered in the court’s second decision on the subdivision.
However, Judge Hassan rejected the company’s argument, saying the fan noise finding was just one of several issues regarding noise and reverse sensitivity at the subdivision site.
The company did "not come close to establishing a meritorious case for rehearing", he said.
In April, the company put its High Court appeal on hold pending the outcome of the rehearing application.
Mr Wilkinson could not be reached for comment.
