But a Central Otago District Council manager said the "limited earthworks" proposed for the project meant the council was correct processing the application on a non-notified basis.
Mr Laws lives in The Dunes subdivision, beside CHP Developments Ltd's Prospector's Park subdivision, on the old Cromwell Top 10 Holiday Park site.
He complained to the council last month about the significant noise and vibrations caused by the work, which is being done by Civil Construction Ltd.
Last week a Civil Construction spokesman said the company stopped the work immediately following Mr Laws' complaint, and was "awaiting further instruction" about the outcome of a meeting between Mr Laws and the development's engineer "as how to proceed in the future".
However, Mr Laws said no meeting had yet been held, but more vibrating work was done last week, 30m from his boundary.
No response was received to questions sent this week to the Civil Construction spokesman.
The development's engineer, Wally Sanford, of Landpro, said it was "disappointing that this issue has been made public, given that we stopped works adjacent to his [Michael Laws'] boundary immediately upon receiving his initial complaint and threat of legal action on the 19th of July and haven't returned within 50m since".
"I discussed what we were doing, why we were doing it and agreed the best action moving forward in person with Michael. By the time Michael has new neighbours over his back fence, Prospectors Park will have delivered 100 residential sections to the Cromwell market and it's fair to say that all involved are looking forward to that day."
Mr Laws said the council had been "derelict" in granting the consent without seeking the opinions of neighbours.
"None knew that the vibrating machinery would be part of that consent and it's not part of the application."
Council planning manager David Campbell confirmed this week the vibrating machinery work was not part of the application for the land-use consent, "but could reasonably be expected for a residential development of this scale".
Mr Campbell said the council was correct in processing the application because of "the limited earthworks proposed".
The broader subdivision consent had been publicly notified.
The Prospector's Park subdivision will have 173 sections in total, ranging in size from 250sq m to 2055sq m.
CHP Developments director John Searle said the development would be done in six stages and subdivision owners had "been well supported by the majority of the neighbouring properties" and were "doing our best to bring minimal disruption to the surrounding area".
