However, Dunedin City Council consultant planner John Sule has recommended a hearings committee decline the consent application.
The Clutha Veterinary Association Inc (Clutha Vets) application will go to a council hearings committee in Dunedin this month.
Clutha Vets veterinary surgeon Jason Darwen, who is a member of the executive management group of the farmer-owned practice, said there had been "all sorts of barriers" trying to get the application through the council.
But the Taieri was already "a huge part of our business".
"Outram heading up to Lee Stream, up the hill there, is very much part of our business, which is why, at the moment trying to service that area from Milton is challenging."
The vet group was exploring options and had made "no massive financial, or otherwise, commitments at this stage".
"We’re sort of seeing which way things go.
"We’re hoping it would benefit the region."
Clutha Vets was a long-standing South Otago-based incorporated society that covered "the full mixed practice" and treated farm animals, horses and pets, he said.
It had three vet practices: one in Balclutha, one in Milton and one in Lawrence.
He understood concerns had been raised by neighbours about the proposed Bell St site, but was hoping to allay those concerns through the hearings process, Mr Darwen said.
"Any commercial enterprise, close to where your house is, it’s always going to be a concern in terms of the impact with traffic and noise and so on and so forth.
"We’re very aware of all those factors — we all have lives outside of work as well. We do our best to sort of mitigate those."
The planner’s report to the hearings committee said the proposal to subdivide the land and build a vet practice was likely to have effects which were no more than minor if appropriate consent conditions were put in place.
However, Mr Sule said the subdivision proposal was contrary to key policies of the council’s district plan and the national policy statement on highly productive land.
The proposed vet clinic was not really the problem, Mr Sule said.
Instead, the proposed subdivision — to allow a new vet clinic on one section while keeping an existing dwelling on the other — did not appear to meet the range of exceptions provided in those policy documents.
"I have considered the relevant case law in relation to the application of directive policies and as a result, I have concluded that the combined subdivision and land-use proposal should be declined.
"If the proposal was exclusively a land-use proposal for a veterinary clinic, then it is likely that the recommendation would be to grant consent," he said.
The single-story vet clinic was proposed to be about 958sq m and have a maximum height of 6.7m, his report said.
Clutha Vets had obtained affected party approval from three of the four parties identified as affected, he said.
The remaining party submitted in opposition to the vet clinic.
The neighbours identified that the operating hours were not clearly defined.
There was potential for increased traffic and noise at night and on weekends.
The proposal included an outdoor dog run and if a lot of dogs were kept on site, and potentially overnight, there could be considerable noise.
Further, a pet cremation service might be established on the site, the report said.
Mr Sule argued that those concerns could be mitigated,but the proposal did not meetthe criteria for subdividing the high-quality land.
If the land was not subdivided it would not require an assessment of the site’s high-class soils and his recommendation might be different, he said.
