Wānaka Responsible Growth Advocates (WRGA) member and co-founder Luke Snelling said he and fellow member Mark Gray had been spurred into action after meeting at "a very sparsely attended public drop-in session" about the proposed Urban Intensification Variation on September 13.
"I attended this thing hoping to be a fly on the wall," Mr Snelling said.
"Wānaka’s pretty good when it comes to these kinds of action groups to oppose things like the airports. So I thought, OK, I’ll see how it’s done."
Mr Snelling said he and Mr Gray had been "pretty shocked" by the level of attendance at the session, and felt it spoke to a general lack of awareness about the changes the proposal was suggesting.
"Pretty much anyone that I talk to about it has said it’s news to them which is kind of what motivated us to do this," he said.
‘‘Everyone seemed so ignorant of the changes — and these were people that were directly affected by them."
Currently open for public submissions, the Urban Intensification Variation represents a series of changes the council is proposing to the Proposed District Plan. These changes would see an increase in urban density across the district, including parts of Wānaka.
Mr Gray said their group was primarily concerned with changes to residential zoning that would class several neighbourhoods as Medium Density Residential Zones.
On land within these zones, building heights would be increased to 11m, with an additional metre for homes with pitched roofs.
"The reason why people have bought here in this location is for that kind of low-level, residential community feel ... rather than the higher-density, high infrastructure of something like Queenstown," Mr Gray said.
He said the group understood the council was compelled to act in response to national regulations, but emphasised the council also had the mandate to designate areas that were "best suited" for intensification.
"The idea with our group is to reposition the Medium Density Residential Zone to an area where things like light shafts and view shafts are not going to be such a paramount issue and the land value will be less.
"So that would be something like a flat piece of land within the boundary of the town zone ... like Three Parks."
Last week, WRGA completed a 1000-leaflet drop across Wānaka to spread awareness about the proposal, and is encouraging as many residents as possible to complete a submission before the process comes to an end on October 5.
QLDC spokesman Sam White said about 60 people had attended the Wānaka public drop-in session, and between 20 and 30 attended a similar session in Hāwea.
"Our duty planner service has been fielding a high number of inquiries ... and we’ve had a good number of people coming into our Ardmore St office to ask questions."
Mr White said anyone with questions about the proposal could get in touch with QLDC duty policy planners by phone, email or in person.
He also encouraged people to visit the proposal’s dedicated page on the council’s website.
When asked about the level of public awareness about the proposal, Mr White said the QLDC had followed the process set out in Schedule 1 of the Resource Management Act.
"All ratepayers received a letter or email which included a copy of the public notice for the proposal and links to the relevant web page for more information," he said.
He said the proposal had also been promoted via several other channels, including newspapers, radio, social media and press releases.
Mr White said public submissions would be reviewed by both an independent hearings panel and councillors before any final decision was made on the changes.
As far as the WRGA is concerned, Mr Gray said the proposal should be delayed to allow for a more in-depth consultation process to take place.
"We understand that they’ve got a job to do, and it’s a tricky job. But it needs more thought," he said.
