Lakes Environmental planning manager Brian Fitzpatrick said the site - adjacent to an existing Mobil service station - was zoned as a "corner shopping centre", where commercial activities such as restaurants and takeaways premises were anticipated.
"It's not as if it was on a residential site or a rural general site," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
He said Lakes Environmental and the Queenstown Lakes District Council were bound by the Resource Management Act and the council's district plan, in terms of processing consents.
For a corner shopping zone, in order to decide if an application had to be notified, commissioners had to "subtract" expected effects from a commercial activity.
"In a commercial shopping centre ... there will be effects in terms of vehicle traffic, appearance and noise.
"We have to subtract those.
"[However], there might be more noise or much more traffic. Then we measure those and see if anyone's affected."
While Lakes Environmental had initially identified there could be noise effects on other parties, a report from an acoustic engineer, which was peer reviewed by another consultant, indicated those effects would not trigger notification.
The immediate neighbour was Mobil, McDonald's owning the land on the other side of the proposed restaurant.
"If we thought those noise effects [would have exceeded the limits], we would have had to notify it."
Commissioner Jane Sinclair granted the consent last month with 19 conditions.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the only part of the McDonald's consent that had required public notification was for its signage, which exceeded regulations for the district.
However, the size of the sign had been reduced significantly.
Frankton resident Fiona McDonald was angry the community did not get a chance to have its say on the approved 24-hour restaurant. She had collected 200 signatures in a petition last year.
Mr Fitzpatrick said some of Ms McDonald's concerns were valid.
"There's just some mismatch between those concerns and the issues that we can consider," he said.
"The only people who can appeal it are the applicant or submitters.
"There were no submitters, so there's only one party and that's the applicant.
"[Ms McDonald] can go through a judicial review [in] the High Court.
"The key thing is that the zoning of that site contemplated an activity like this."
Last year, a Burger King opened opposite the new McDonald's site, but Mr Fitzpatrick said that application had been notified because it was in a residential zone.
Other restaurants, including Nando's, that had also opened in the area had also been processed non-notified because of the particular zoning.
In terms of the appearance of the new McDonald's, Mr Fitzpatrick said the design had changed considerably after an urban design panel review and comments from the Lakes Environmental planner.
The building would be clad in schist and cedar.
Mr Fitzpatrick was not sure when McDonald's would begin building the 139-seat restaurant and drive-through.
