Central Otago District Council roading manager Julie Muir said the problems with Hillview Rd dated back to 1999.
Dave and Joy Sinclair own the road and 22 property owners along it have right-of-way easements.
During the past decade, the council has been asked to take over ownership of the road and its maintenance and agreed, providing the road was upgraded at the adjoining landowners' expense.
Some property owners were not prepared to contribute to the cost and some did not want the road to become a public road, she said.
The landowners had now sealed the hill section of the road.
The council's roading sub-committee yesterday approved a proposal to dedicate the sealed section of the road to council as public road.
Ms Muir said for a road to be transferred to council, existing easements would have to be surrendered and the land was then vested in the council as road.
"Now we've struck a stumbling block because a couple of people [landowners] are not prepared to lift the encumbrances [right-of-way easements]," she said.
There were two options available to the council.
One was to dedicate the land to council as road and the other was compulsory acquisition of the land under the Public Works Act.
The latter was the least desirable as it would involve the greatest cost - "that's our last resort," Ms Muir said.
The Sinclairs' lawyer, Tracy Paterson, said Hillview Rd was a destination road, serving as an access for those who lived along it.
It did not connect with any other roads.
If the council gave consent to the road being dedicated, the first stage of the process was for a resource consent application for subdivision to be lodged with the council.
Council asset and contracts manager Murray Washington said it made sense for a road that serviced more than 20 properties to be a public road.
Central Otago mayor Malcolm Macpherson said the day-to-day use of the road was unlikely to change as a result of making it a public road.
Sub-committee chairman Neil Gillespie said some of the landowners had concerns about making it a public road, in case it led to new activities being started in the area.
For example, several vineyards were located along the road and some might decide to open wine-tasting facilities.
Dedicating it as a council road would not solve the problems that still existed with the property owners, he said.
