The Dunedin City Council appears likely to oppose a New Zealand Historic Places Trust proposal to register Carisbrook Stadium and the Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute building in Dunedin's Octagon as category one historic places.
The move is unlikely to help an already strained relationship between the two organisations.
Central to the council's opposition, which - unusually - was approved by finance, strategy, property and planning managers, was that scheduling of Carisbrook would be likely to "curtail future redevelopment opportunities at the site".
Scheduling of the Athenaeum would also limit development options.
The submission is part of a report to be presented to the council's finance and strategy committee today for approval.
If approved it would be presented to the trust.
The trust and the council have publicly taken opposing positions over the heritage aspects of several planned developments.
In June, the trust took the rare step of prosecuting the council for alleged breaches of an archaeological authority issued for the Wall Street retail development in George St.
The trust last week made submissions on the proposed harbourside development, citing "vital gaps and flaws in the plan change" as reasons for its opposition.
Acrimony surfaced early last month when the stalled Mediterranean garden project was discussed.
Developers of the Mediterranean garden criticised the trust over an archaeological assessment of the Dunedin Botanic Garden site, which it said was holding up the new garden.
In response, the trust said it had a statutory responsibility to administer the archaeological authority process.
When asked about the tone of recent interaction between the council and the trust, Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin yesterday said meetings with the trust were scheduled "to discuss the relationship".
Trust Otago Southland area manager Owen Graham would not comment on the council report until submissions on the Carisbrook and Athenaeum proposals closed on Friday.
On the state of the trust's relationship with the council, Mr Graham said the parties were "fulfilling their responsibilities".
"I don't think it serves anyone's interests to have an oppositional situation.
Both groups are doing their jobs, and [the trust's] is advocacy, and trying to ensure that in a heritage city, such as Dunedin, heritage issues are managed in the context of renewal and growth."
Council chief executive Jim Harland said in a report to councillors that "if Carisbrook were added to the schedule, resource consent for non-complying activity would need to be obtained prior to removal or demolition of the turnstile building . . . [it] is by no means certain that such a consent would be granted".
"The proposed registration may mean the turnstile building could not be removed to make way for future development.
The site could be left underused or vacant, with "damaging consequences for the finances of the owners and South Dunedin".
