Sssh, don’t scream on this Brisbane 100km/h thrill ride

PATRONS of a proposed Mt Coot-tha zip line which can travel up to 100km/h will be asked to keep quiet so neighbours are not disturbed at night.

Indooroopilly resident Bron Rafferty is concerned about the amount of noise from a proposed mega zip line from Mt Cootha Summit to the Botanical Gardens. Picture AAP/David Clark

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PATRONS of a proposed Mt Coot-tha zip line which can travel up to 100km/h will be asked to keep quiet so neighbours are not disturbed at night.

Indooroopilly resident Bron Raftery said the extraordinary claim was made at an information session by a Zip line Australia founder.

“(He said) it will operate seven days a week, 9.30am to 9.30pm, so we’re very concerned about noise,’’ Ms Raftery said.

The company, which dropped plans for a similar project in the Sunshine Coast hinterland after a community backlash, is the preferred tenderer for a mega zip line which would run from near the summit of Mt Coot-tha to the lake at the Australian plant zone in the botanic gardens.

Ms Raftery said the 2014 Mt Coot-tha Management Plan indicated a 100m-wide fire buffer would have to be set aside around the route.

Council denied that and said operating hours were not locked in.

Ms Raftery said the council’s own Mt Coot-tha Neighbourhood Plan 2014 identified the area through which the mega zip line would travel as a high fire hazard area.

It has already notified residents that Council officers would be conducting hazard reduction burns over a large area later this year.

“My neighbour was told by the council that they are doing it now to get in before the project is built and that they hope not to have to do it again for 15 years — it used to be done every fire years,’’ she said.

Ms Raftery also said she as told several times, at the community information sessions, that the four-minute ‘thrill’’ ride, which would cost $100 per adult, would have capacity for six people to travel at 60km/h every six minutes, with inclines in some places allowing speeds up to 100km/h.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk with Parks, Environment and Sustainability chairman David McLachlan.

Environment, Parks and Sustainability chair, councillor David McLachlan, said the zip line and mega zip line projects would deliver “exciting new lifestyle and leisure opportunities for one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions’’.

“Minimising environmental impacts has been at the forefront of Council’s considerations and the successful tenderer put forward an environmentally sensitive design,” Cr McLachlan said.

“Claims that the design requires a vegetation clearing along a 100m-wide corridor are incorrect,’’ he said.

“There will be a net gain of native vegetation as a result of the project.

“The hours of operation have not yet been determined, but noise impacts will be a consideration.”

Brothers Mike Thompson, a mechanical engineer with a military background, and renewable energy and IT expert Matt Thompson, received Cairns Regional Council approval to build a giant flying fox in 2017.

The Thompson brothers run zip line tours on the Gold Coast and one in Vanuatu which is that country’s most recommended activity on Trip-Advisor.

A previous attempt to build a zip line in the Sunshine Coast hinterland failed after objections from environmental groups.