A last minute agreement has avoided a public hearing over Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum’s air conditioning relocation plans.

Ashburton District Council wants to relocate their air conditioning equipment at the art gallery from the roof to the ground floor.

However, neighbours objected due to concerns around the noise from the units.

An independent hearing commissioner was scheduled to hear the council's resource consent application on Wednesday.

The hearing was cancelled following discussions between the council and the neighbours, who had lodged a joint submission on the application.

The commissioner was provided a suite of proposed conditions that the council and the neighbours had agreed on Tuesday.

Ashburton's gallery and museum opened 10 years ago.

A land covenant on the resource consent meant the council couldn’t amend the consent for 10 years after it opened.

After that period, the council must consult the six neighbouring properties before altering the facility.

The facility’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system needs major repairs and maintenance.

It is currently on the rooftop and was identified as needing to be upgraded back in 2018.

The $1.9 million project has been carried over in the budgets for years.

The council is proposing to build a new ground enclosure with acoustic walls to house the mechanical plant relocated from the roof.

Council staff had discussed the options with the neighbours in December, with split opinions from them on a preferred option.

The councillors then selected an option in February to proceed to the consent process.

As the council is the applicant the consent application needed to be heard by an independent planning commissioner.

Council business support manager Helen Barnes said they recognised the neighbours' concerns and it was good that the two parties were able to talk through the issues without a full hearing.

“The next step is for the commissioner to make a decision on the consent application, taking into account all the information that has been provided by the parties.”

The commissioner’s decision will be subject to an appeal period.

If resource consent is granted, the council could lodge a building consent for the enclosure, which would be built on the Ashburton Domain side of the facility.

The enclosure is proposed to have 4m walls on the western and northern sides, and night-time noise from the plant has been modelled at below 40 decibels, to comply with the permitted activity levels in the district plan.

By Jonathan Leask