Councillors will tomorrow consider a draft submission on amendments to national rules for freshwater management, including wetlands.
It supports changes making landfills in or near a wetland a "discretionary" activity, but said having to show there was "no practicable alternative location" was too high a standard.
Instead, the submission argues, the test for whether a landfill was appropriate in a wetland setting was whether it was the "best practicable location".
A council report on the matter said the submission balanced the need for improved environmental outcomes with the impact the new rules would have on necessary development for the city.
It was based on feedback from Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins, as well as council staff in Three Waters, waste and environmental services, legal and city development departments, it said.
Meanwhile, hearings for the council’s landfill proposal have been adjourned since May as the council works on its replies to concerns raised by submitters.
Among those concerns is whether the proposal aligns with the new freshwater rules.
The Otago Regional Council consultant who recommended the application be refused cited uncertainty about the degree that wetland habitat could be affected as an issue for the proposal.
About a year ago the planned landfill was reduced by more than half in an effort to avoid wetlands at the site.
Last week, a council spokesman said both the council’s existing Green Island landfill and its proposed Smooth Hill landfill were beside wetlands.
"Our plan to develop the new landfill at Smooth Hill is not a deciding factor in the submission as currently drafted, but the proposed design of the new landfill avoids any impact on the wetland," the spokesman said.
He did not address a question as to whether the changes advanced in the submission would affect the consent application process for the proposed landfill.
Earlier, he said the council was working through the items raised by submitters "as quickly as we can".
"We are awaiting some further comments from other parties.
"Once those are all received the final conditions and evidence will be filed as soon as possible.
"We’re not able to give you a timeline at this stage."
Hearings chairman Rob van Voorthuysen said once the city council’s replies were filed there was unlikely to be a further hearing unless the panel wished to ask questions about the contents of the city council’s reply.
If the panel had no questions arising from the reply and if the panel also did not require any further information, commissioners would close the hearing and then have 15 workings days to issue a decision, he said.
The hearing was adjourned when commissioners called upon the council to produce new evidence, which they called a "quantitative public health risk assessment", to help the commissioners consider issues raised by submitters who enjoyed Otokia Creek, which starts at the landfill site, and Brighton Beach where the creek goes to sea.
That assessment was filed by the city council and rejected by submitters at the end of last month. The regional council’s consultant said it might have underestimated the public health risk.
