Round two of a wrangle between the owners of Earnscleugh's Grasshopper Rock vineyard and their next-door neighbours, who want to subdivide, was played out this week.
The vineyard owners were among three opponents of John and Pam Chapman's plans to subdivide a 3.8ha property into two lots.
On behalf of the Chapmans, surveyor Peter Dymock told a Central Otago District Council hearings panel this week Grasshopper Rock ''could not possibly suffer any loss of rural amenity'' as a result of the subdivision.
''It is a corporate vineyard owned by `out-of-towners', with no dwelling on the site,'' he said.
One of the owners of Grasshopper Rock, Phil Handford, said that was ''a cheap shot''.
''We've made a huge investment in the area and employed locals''. The Chapmans originally applied to subdivide the property into three lots, but changed their plans in response to submissions and comments by the council's planning consultant, David Whitney.
However, the amended application to create a 1.88ha lot with the Chapmans' existing home on it, and another of 1.92ha with one building platform, remained a non-complying activity and Mr Whitney recommended it be turned down on the grounds it would set a precedent. The panel has reserved its decision. Mr Dymock said the first 3.5km of Earnscleugh Rd from the Alexandra town boundary was characterised by lifestyle blocks.
There were 19 small lots of about 2ha within 1.5km of the Chapmans' place. None of the three submitters who objected to the plans lived in the area and contrary to what Grasshopper Rock submitted, the site was not ''lost'' to wine development as it could still be used for that purpose.
The Chapmans bought their property, then a bigger block, in 1982 and later subdivided the land, selling one block to Grasshopper Rock. Mr Chapman said they wanted to sell off some land to finance the further development of their Como Villa cellar door business. They hosted wine tastings and sold wines produced from grapes grown on their property.
Mr Handford said the area was premium wine country, perfectly suited to pinot noir and consistently produced gold-medal winning wines, and needed ''to be protected from rural residential subdivision.''
Wine Masters Bob Campbell, of Auckland and Tim Atkin, of London, supported the vineyard's submission. Mr Campbell said the potential loss of 2ha of vineyard land represented a ''serious and irreplaceable loss to Alexandra, as it does indeed to New Zealand wine''. Mr Chapman said all the neighbouring house owners had consented to his plans.
''We're trying to contribute to the wine and tourism trail in the district - that's what this is about.''
He had offered to sell 1ha of pinot noir grapes to Grasshopper Rock but the two parties could not agree on a price.
