Plans for a year-round light show at Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens have been approved by Brisbane City Council, despite strong opposition from local residents and concern over the impact on traffic and local wildlife.
The Lumina Night Walk will be Australia's first long-term night walk, similar to other multimedia light and art installations in France, Japan and Canada.
Brisbane City Council said the installation would be open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights from 6pm to 11pm. An opening date has not yet been set.
The light show is expected to operate for a maximum of 150 nights a year, with up to six one-hour sessions a night and additional shows during school holidays.
"There has been very little community consultation, no detail on environmental impacts and no plan to address traffic and parking concerns," local Greens MP Michael Berkman said.
Mr Berkman said the Botanic Gardens was held under a special deed that specifies land be used as a public park and not for any other purposes.
"Commercialisation of a public space being used for profit by a private company is a big concern," he said.
"It looks like a private company will make off with millions in profits, with Council keeping just a small fraction to reinvest into the Gardens."
Brisbane City Council Deputy Mayor Krista Adams said public consultation was carried out for three weeks towards the end of 2022 and planning officers assessed and approved Lumina's application in line with requirements of the City Plan.
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"The night walk will include eight light show stations and be along an existing one-kilometre stretch of the Gardens Explorer Trail – no plants or trees are removed with the lights camouflaged from view," Cr Adams said.
"Australian company LightDreaming will fund, install, and operate the light show at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-Tha. Revenue paid to Council from LightDreaming will be reinvested directly into the Botanic Gardens."
The after-dark tourist attraction is expected to draw more than 200,000 people to the Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens, which already has around 1.4 million visitors a year.
More than 470 submissions were lodged with Council during the public consultation period, with the majority sent in by residents opposed to the light show.
"My main concern is the Mt Coot-Tha Botanic Gardens is a living museum and the area where they are proposing to put the light show has plants from around the world," wildlife ecologist and President of the Mount Coot-Tha Protection Alliance Peter Hale said.
"Research shows that lighting affects nocturnal wildlife adversely and council hasn't done any work to assess the potential impact on wildlife.
"There will be negative impacts on wildlife, including the powerful owl, which is a vulnerable species, as well as various species of micro bats."
Mr Hale is a long-time resident of the area who was also involved in the fight to stop Brisbane City Council's plan for a zipline. That project was approved in 2017 and scrapped two years later after a significant public backlash.
Mr Hale said he hoped the same would happen with the light show, with the Mt Coot-Tha Alliance planning to keep the pressure on Council.
"Council elections are in March next year, and we're going to keep our campaign going in the wards surrounding Mt Coot-Tha and highlighting the council's neglect of Mount Coot-Tha and the Botanic Gardens," he said.