Zipline melts Council online portal

A deluge of public submissions on the controversial Mt Coot-tha ziplineproject has caused Brisbane City Council’s online portal to go into meltdown.

Mount Coot-tha zipline artists impressions — Treetop Canopy Tour

A deluge of 2000 public submissions on the Mt Coot-tha zipline has caused Brisbane City Council’s online portal to melt down.

Comments on the controversial project, which involves a six-abreast series of high-speed ziplines from the summit to the botanic gardens plus a single zipline to J.C. Slaughter Falls picnic area, close this afternoon (Friday, December 14).

So many have flowed in this week that Council’s development application portal, pdonline, has been offline for hours at a time.

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Many users have also said they could not view the voluminous Council development application documents, or could not attach documents supporting their submissions.

In some cases, a message has popped up telling users the project is code assessable — meaning there is no proper objection process.

In fact, it is impact assessable, allowing for full public notification and objections and court appeals.

State Greens MP for Maiwar, Michael Berkman, wrote to City Planning Chairman Matthew Bourke earlier this week calling on him to extend the deadline until January because of the problems.

Mount Coot-tha zipline artists impressions — Skywalk — cultural heritage tour.

He did not receive a response, but Lord Mayor Graham Quirk told media outlets on Thursday that the deadline would not be changed.

A spokesman for Mr Berkman said their auto-submission tool had logged 1526 submissions, as of this morning.

He estimated their office had received about 2000 all up, including written submissions.

The State Assessment Referral Agency last week decided that the ziplines could proceed to the next phase of the approvals process, a decision by the State Government on whether the project was allowable under the Land Act.

Public submissions on that close on December 31.

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SARA told Council it was now satisfied the zipline project would not require additional clearing of native vegetation for firebreaks and safety buffers, and bushfire risks would be managed appropriately.

Opposition Council environment spokesman, Cr Steve Griffiths, said the development was “not a done deal as the Lord Mayor is portraying it’’.

“The Lord Mayor is actually misleading people. We’re still going through the development application process and the State Government still has not made its assessment.’’

Tourism Minister Kate Jones, speaking at a press conference this morning alongside Lord Mayor Graham Quirk on Thursday, also emphasised that Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham still had to make a ruling.