Several neighbours have generally supported the operating changes so the airport can grow in line with demand for services, but want amendments to the proposed rules to clarify their development rights.
The Wanaka Airport Management Committee wants to provide for an extended runway that could allow jet aircraft to land.
This will change noise events and bringing planes closer to some properties. At the moment, the airport does not operate at night because it does not have runway lighting and the noise boundaries already need updating.
The committee commissioned Marshall Day acoustical consultant Stephen Peakall to prepare a noise management report for the hearing.
Mr Peakall recommended three new noise control boundaries: an outer control boundary, an airnoise boundary (both of which update existing noise controls) and a new night noise boundary to manage sleep disturbance effects.
Mr Peakall told commissioners Bob Batty and Stephen Chiles if the new controls were implemented, several landowners would be restricted in their use of land.
"It is my opinion that these restrictions are necessary, as otherwise significant adverse noise effects for these landowners could eventuate," Mr Peakall said.
Air New Zealand says it is unlikely for jet aircraft to arrive in Wanaka within the next 20 years so a runway extension is not needed and the new controls would impose unnecessary restrictions on neighbouring activities.
Lakes Environmental planner Anne-Marie Robertson said there was no evidence to justify a night noise boundary and it should be removed from the plan change.
The committee said if a night noise boundary was not approved, at the very least it wanted airport operating hours to 10pm, consistent with Queenstown Airport.
The new noise controls would prohibit "new activities sensitive to aircraft noise" within the new noise boundaries.
Where building platforms already exist but have not yet been built on, the new buildings would require appropriate acoustic insulation.
Any existing buildings undergoing alterations or extensions would also need acoustic insulation.
Julie Umbers is arguably one of the most adversely affected neighbours, because she has a consented building platform on Stevenson's Rd that falls entirely within the noise boundaries and also intrudes into restricted airspace.
Mrs Umbers has been working with the committee to find a new building platform that avoids the airspace intrusion, but because it would still be within the noise boundaries, she asked the commissioners to clarify whether she would be prohibited from building.
The committee's planner, Alison Noble, told the commissioners the committee did not intend to prevent Mrs Umbers from building and would agree to a wording amendment to reflect that.
Mrs Umbers' fallback position was to require the Queenstown Lakes District Council to buy her property, Ms Noble said.
All the neighbours are in the rural general zone except the Pittaway Family Trust, which owns land in a rural accommodation zone.
The new noise controls could affect the trust's rights to develop visitor accommodation but the commissioners were told the trust recently gained consent for an 11-hangar aviation park and was not contemplating visitor accommodation at this stage.
The commissioners adjourned the hearing yesterday and said they expected to release their decision within four weeks.
