Haunted house ‘won’t be spooked’ by council bureaucrats

A southeast Queensland entrepreneur says she is not scared of bureaucratic red tape and will take her $1 million fight to open a haunted house near the M1 to the State Government.

Jaye Rose on the M1 at Loganholme near the old Antiques Store which is owned by Logan City Council. AAP/Image Sarah Marshall

A businesswoman, who wants to set up a haunted house attraction on a vacant council-owned property, says she is not spooked by bureaucratic red tape.

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Logan entrepreneur Jaye Rose was told Logan City Council would not allow her to lease a vacant, two-storey, dilapidated building at Loganholme for her ghostly tourist venture.

Ms Rose, who has spent $1 million putting her proposal to council since 2008, vowed to continue to find a home for her tourist attraction and would start lobbying the state.

She said she was prepared to pay to restore parts of the building and upgrade the council asset.

“I was prepared to pay to lease the site and do it up and create about 200 jobs for locals,” she said.

“This building is going to sit vacant for another 20 years at least and that’s all money that would benefit the city’s ratepayers.”

Logan Organisational Services director Robert Strachan said any plans for a development on the land would have to get approval from the state, which had earmarked the land for its Coomera Connector.

He said the state government’s Transport and Main Roads Department notified council it need the land for the six-lane road and in March last year approved maps for the route, which runs through the site on the Pacific Highway.

The site of the TMR/Council land on the Pacific Highway at Loganholme.

“Any new development application impacting the corridor would have to be referred under the Planning Act to the state government for a decision,” he said.

“Discussions with the state government have indicated that there would be no support from the state for any temporary use for any part of the land where a notification for a future road would be indicated.

“Because the council must refer any development application to the state, it’s likely that such an application would not be approved.

“The only use they would approve is for short-term agistment.”

The council/TMR building on the Pacific Highway at Loganholme.

The council said the site could only be leased for its existing purpose as an antiques store and any lease opportunity would have to be put to tender.

Mr Strachan said the council had asked the state to acquire the land as soon as possible to save the cost of security and maintenance.

The report sparked debate about whether the council had done enough to help the small business stay operating in Logan.

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Council Strategy and Sustainability director David Hansen said the council had offered Ms Rose options to locate at Mayes Cottage, Castle Rumble and at Beenleigh Historical Village.

Ms Rose said those were unrealistic and unfeasible options that would not get development approval from the council. She also said she had not been approached by officers about those three sites or any others.

“The state government has said it was reviewing the route for the Coomera Connector so how can they be definite about the use of that land if the route is undecided,” she said.

Mr Strachan said a proposal to set up Alma Park Zoo on the site fell through last year.

Following that, the council moved to set up a land transfer deed with its investment arm InvestLogan so the site could be turned into a wave park with operator Tunnel Vision.

However, while InvestLogan was conducting due diligence on the land transfer, the state government’s Transport and Main Roads Department notified council it would need the land for its Coomera Connector road.

“That caused InvestLogan to no longer explore the purchase of that land.”