Otago Regional Council consents manager Joanna Gilroy said the number of submissions for the proposal was more than the 200 the council received for a Queenstown Lakes District Council application, in 2019, when the council applied to discharge untreated wastewater overflows into freshwater bodies such as Lake Wakatipu and Lake Wanaka.
It was still fewer submissions than the 386 received on a Port Otago application to build three rock groynes to help stabilise the beach at Te Rauone Beach, on Otago Peninsula, Ms Gilroy said.
While the QLDC’s wastewater discharge bid was declined, the Port Otago bid was given the go-ahead.
For the landfill proposal, members of the Brighton community held a Stop the Landfill Writeathon last month.
At the time organisers said volunteers helped 140 people make submissions.
Ms Gilroy said at this stage of the process a pre-hearing meeting was an option and could be held with the ORC, DCC, and submitters who wished to be involved.
Similar to mediation, a pre-hearing meeting was facilitated by an independent person as a way to narrow the issues up for discussion and identify points of agreement or disagreement, she said.
Any hearing will not be until next year.
