Closing submissions are being made by representatives of all parties in the Environment Court Project Hayes appeal hearing.
Central Otago District Council lawyer Graeme Todd, of Queenstown, yesterday made the first closing submission in the hearing.
He confirmed the council opposed submissions against the development, which was granted resource consent in part by the council in 2007.
Mr Todd acknowledged adverse effects of the development related to potential impacts on landscape, visual amenity, ecology, recreation and transport arising from construction and ongoing operation of the wind farm.
However, he said most, if not all, could be mitigated in some way.
The transmission network was likely to be upgraded, to carry the power generated by developments such as Project Hayes.
Other benefits of Project Hayes included Meridian's agreement to undertake work and mitigation as requested by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust and Department of Conservation, in separate negotiations.
"It was and remains the council's view that the benefits of the proposal at a district, regional and national level outweigh, on balance, the obvious adverse impacts that will arise."
Otago Regional Council lawyer Alastair Logan, of Dunedin, said the regional council aligned itself with the district council and Meridian, supporting the project.
Appellant counsel Neville Marquet submitted the wind farm development was opposed in its entirety by his clients Eric and Cate Laurenson, the Eric and Cate Laurenson Family Trust, Ian and Sarah Manson, and the Riverview Settlement Trust.
"The size, extent, and dominance of the proposal are such that the adverse effects relating to its establishment, operation and maintenance cannot be avoided, remedied or mitigated.
"Nothing can hide the absolute domination of the activity which extols its worth through its ridge top and mostly skyline placement of turbines," he said.
Mr Marquet said his clients did not want the rural character of their surroundings destroyed: "The Lammermoor today is a mountain range.
If consented as a wind farm, it will become a very extensive industrial park."
Central Otago Recreational Users Forum secretary and counsel Jan Kelly, of Wanaka, said Project Hayes would negatively affect people's recreational experiences.
"If the wind farm is built, thus changing the landscape and its attributes, future generations will be denied the experience of what we value now," she said.
