The Queenstown Lakes District Council will not be appealing a commissioners' decision on Arrowtown's boundary, but may in the future lodge a private plan change for some form of development of its Jopp St land.
The commissioners' recommendation, which was adopted by the full council in October, was to form a tight boundary around Arrowtown.
The council, in its corporate capacity as landowner of the former sewage-treatment site near Jopp St, submitted during the hearings the 3.68ha of land should be included in the boundary and used to provide about 30 units of affordable housing.
Yesterday's decision not to appeal the decision to the Environment Court followed an address by Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust chairman David Cole during the public forum, during which he told the council he was going to "make it easy for you today".
"As the Housing Trust, we're saying it's possibly, at this stage, helpful not to appeal this decision.
"We are disappointed that in [four or five years] we haven't been able to secure Jopp St as a residential development, but we also think with the new council ... it's probably an opportunity to work with the council."
Mr Cole said the trust was disappointed the decision was referred to "out-of-town commissioners" Mike Garland and Andrew Henderson, but it would not be "helpful" to take the decision to the Environment Court and spend more ratepayer money contesting the recommendation.
"How can we ask them to do anything but retain their current opinion when we hold up a blank piece of paper?"We should develop ... a plan - a comprehensive plan, a master plan that shows some of the possibilities for Jopp St, which would enhance the residential area, take those plans to submitters and see if we can work positively with them.
"We think we can do that outside the court.
"We're not proposing to support an appeal, but we are proposing we can deliver a positive outcome through different means.
It would be better to sort this decision out inside this community, rather than outside it," he said.
QLDC regulatory and corporate services general manager Roger Taylor said the council needed to decide if it would appeal its own decision.
"Councillors have a number of hats; often they don't get into a situation where they have to switch from one to another.
"In this case, the regulatory body has proposed a plan change. That plan change puts a boundary around Arrowtown ... council, in its corporate capacity, made a submission.
"The council, in its regulatory capacity, rejected that submission."
In response to questions from Cr Russell Mawhinney, Mr Taylor said the "bottom line" cost for an Environment Court appeal would be about $50,000, while the cost for a private plan change would be double that.
Mayor Vanessa van Uden said from the Housing Trust's perspective the land was still important, but without a design or master plan, "they would be fighting the same fight again in the Environment Court, rather than looking at alternatives to spend some time ... and work with the community".
"It's not taking it off the list; it's saying `let's regroup and ... let's think about how we might do this'."
Cr Cath Gilmour said if the trust was not prepared to defend it, it was wise not to appeal the decision.
Cr John Mann said as the landowner, the council was not being "irresponsible" by choosing not to defend the decision.
"There are a lot of options on that site that don't involve housing."
