Cr Cutforth said that the devil was often "buried in the detail" and councillors had an obligation to ratepayers and residents, and not just those who had voted in favour of the project in the 2015 referendum.
"The review would be an insurance policy," she said.
Despite not being a HAC fan, Cr Greg Martin was disappointed at the timing of the motion given the volunteers' deadline for fundraising.
Cr Greg Innes said he felt the proposal was "demoralising" to PNT, "given the hundreds of hours of fundraising, to get something like this at the last moment".
Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai did not support the motion either, saying it was not prudent to spend ratepayers' money on a review into a project that had not even completed its fundraising stage, despite her confidence that it would cross the line.
Cr Cherry Hermon said that some councillors were "set to derail the democratic process", while Cr Crichton Christie said Cr Cutforth's proposal was "stupidity".
"Let the people [PNT] get on with it. This is making it hard for these people to fundraise."
Meanwhile, Cr Sue Glen accused Cr Cutforth of having bad blood against the project, which Cr Cutforth denied.
Cr Cutforth had voting support in chamber from Stu Bell, Vince Cocurello and Phil Halse - but that wasn't enough to have the motion carried.
While Cr Shelley Deeming agreed with the motion in principle, she voted against it due to the ill timing.
This week, Northland Regional Council committed $1.5 million to the project from its Investment and Growth Reserve..
WDC chief executive Rob Forlong said that there was no indication of any judicial reviews in the pipeline and the issue, given the lack of any legal action pending, was difficult to foresee. A judicial review was the most common type of review and any number of council decisions throughout the term can become subject to a review.