The Brisbane City Council's development application website is struggling under a high volume of submissions about the controversial Mt Coot-tha zipline project as the submission deadline nears.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An alert on the PDOnline website on Friday afternoon, hours before the final deadline, noted the site was experiencing a "high volume of enquiries" and provided a direct link to the submission form for the Mt Coot-tha zipline application.
"We are currently experiencing a high volume of enquiries on the PDOnline service which may at times cause intermittent slowness," the note said.
People who could not access the form were told to email Dalodgement@brisbane.qld.gov.au with their submission and the application number.
Greens MP Michael Berkman said on Friday there had been more than 1000 submissions made online and many submitted directly to the council.
The website repeatedly timed out when attempts were made to load the zipline's application page, which had hundreds of submissions listed and thousands of pages of documents related to the application.
On Thursday morning, however, lord mayor Graham Quirk had said the council did not make decisions based on the number of submissions, but on their content and the details of the submission itself.
People who lodge a correct submission have appeal rights against the council's final decision.
In the first week of the 15-day submission period, about 200 submissions had been received, most of which highlighted concerns with environmental degradation if the zipline project was approved.
Last week, the State Assessment and Referral Agency also gave approval for the project to move to the next stage of processing, with the lord mayor saying he had always been confident the zipline would be constructed.
Cr Quirk said he had gone to the last election with the zipline as an election promise.
A Department of State Development said the project had been designed for "minimal" land clearing and the approval had been given with alterations to the project.
"A total of 1.95ha of native vegetation is proposed to be cleared for this project," the spokesman said.
"This area is required for pylons, poles, platforms and facilities.
"SARA has conditioned that clearing can only occur in accordance with a plan that depicts only trees required to be cleared for the project’s infrastructure.
"The minimal amount of vegetation clearing reflected in these conditions ensures that heritage values are not adversely affected."
The spokesman said SARA had also required changes to the launch pad and viewing platform designs to minimuse the visual impact when viewed from the summit.
The requirements included all construction materials being "non-reflective and in earthy tones" and screen to hide the bulk of the structure from the summit viewing platform.
