The council acknowledged there had been issues, but said they mainly stemmed from the application being the first in Dunedin that had to comply with a new national environmental standard on soil contamination.
When contacted, Mad Butcher franchise owner Tony Coulston said his Dunedin business had been frustrated by bureaucracy "from the start".
After his Christchurch Mad Butcher store was damaged in the Christchurch earthquakes, believing he could more or less "pick up" the contents of that store and move them to a Dunedin store, he relocated his family, bought a home and enrolled his children at school.
He expected the store to open in February, but a series of issues with the consent process, including the requirement for earthquake strengthening (with which he had no issue), soil testing, requirements for extra toilets, fire exits and low counters for wheelchair-bound customers, among other issues, had held up development.
He said he had never encountered anything like it before, even during the setting-up and six-year operation of his Christchurch store.
"Right from day one we've been frustrated. It has just been ridiculous, absolutely pedantic."
He hoped to open in June, but in the meantime he was left unable to hire staff, significantly out of pocket and stuck with cabinets and chillers in storage, and his landlord was left thousands of dollars out of pocket for soil-testing on the site.
The property's owner, Andrew Simms, was unable to be contacted.
Council staff said some of the requirements they sought were standard under the building code, but the consents process had been complicated by the need for all parties to satisfy a new national environmental standard introduced on January 1.
Under the new standard, if a site has been used for one of a list of hazardous industries and activities and consent is sought to change use of the land, the landowner must prove there is no public health risk from soil on the site.
If a change of use of the land is sought, landowners must produce a report that proves it is highly unlikely there will be a risk to human health.
If the land is found to be contaminated, a resource consent must be sought with conditions around efforts to mitigate any health risk from the disposal of contaminants or from activity on the site during and after construction.
Council resource consents manager Alan Worthington said those who made consent applications in the first few months after the regulation was introduced might not have been aware of it, so it might have affected their planning.
"Unfortunately" the Mad Butcher was the first consent application the council received that triggered the new regulations, which it did because the site was previously a motor vehicle workshop.
As territorial authorities all worked through installing new processes, some issues could not be avoided, he said.
"It is a challenge, but it is manageable and it is a good policy. Processes will become better."
In the Mad Butcher's case the council had tried to be flexible, he said.
"It is unfortunate and we do appreciate it is difficult, so we're trying to find ways they can work around it."
Some construction had been allowed to go ahead on the understanding that some might have to be undone if the site was subsequently found to present some health risk from soil contamination.
His advice to landowners was to make themselves aware of the new regulation and whether it might affect them, and plan around any time it might take to satisfy the regulation.
Council chief building control officer Neil McLeod said the information his department was waiting for from the project manager, before it could sign off the final stages of a building consent, concerned things such as disability and emergency access. These were standard requirements under the building code and would be required in every part of the country, including Christchurch, he said.
Warwick Dodds, from G.J.Gardner, which is managing the project, said he believed they had already answered the questions the council had, and were waiting on the final sign-off for the last stages of the work.
He said G.J. Gardner had worked on commercial projects before.
Work had started on site, but it was not known yet when it would be ready.
"We are well aware the store is Mr Coulston's livelihood and we are doing what we can."
