Freedom campers often left behind rubbish, including human waste, the Fernhill Sunshine Bay Community Association told a dual submission hearing of the Queenstown and Wanaka councils on Wednesday.
The meeting was hearing oral submissions on the Queenstown Lakes District Council freedom camping bylaw. The submissions would be carefully considered and the draft bylaw would be "rewritten as needed", councillor Cath Gilmour said after the hearing.
"We now go and look at the balance of submissions and equal weight will be given to oral and written submissions."
The council will receive a report on the submissions on June 26 and, if passed, the bylaw will come into effect July 1 this year.
Thirty submissions were received in total and QLDC general manager of community services Paul Wilson said he could not say how many were for and against because some supported parts of the bylaw but not others.
"They weren't necessarily presented in that way. It's not a yes-or-no answer," he said after the hearing.
Included in the oral submissions were arguments from Fernhill Sunshine Bay Community Association which supported the proposed changes in the bylaw.
Hawea Community Association president Rachel Brown said the number of campers had declined since the bylaw's introduction last year and it would be a "step backwards" to remove the no freedom camping zone on the western shore of Lake Hawea.
The area is not under council control and Ms Brown said she had communication with Land Information New Zealand which showed serious action could be taken if QLDC and Linz were to "come up with a co-ordinated approach".
The arguments against the bylaw were generally based on the economic benefits freedom campers brought.
New Zealand Motor Caravan Association resource management co-ordinator James Imlach said NZMCA "don't want council to pass the bylaw as it currently stands".
He gave the example of a freedom camping car park in Taupo and the fact campers contributed a substantial amount of money to Taupo businesses.
After the hearing, Mr Wilson said there was a similar freedom camping car park to the Taupo example Mr Imlach discussed, on Gorge Rd, in Queenstown.
There were written submissions from holiday park owners, federated farmers, and concerned residents.
QLDC had a freedom camping bylaw but was required to make a new one after the Government introduced the Freedom Camping Act of 2011.
There were changes the council had included in the draft bylaw, such as extending the no freedom camping zones west of Wanaka to Glendhu Bay, west of Queenstown from Sunshine Bay to Moke Lake Rd, and east of Joe O'Connell Dr to Glenda Dr.
The draft bylaw also removed the no freedom camping zone on the western shore of Lake Hawea, primarily because the land is not under council control.
