{"id":777800,"date":"2026-07-04T04:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T04:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777800\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T04:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T04:06:05","slug":"hobart-city-council-backs-halls-saddle-transport-hub-leaves-size-question-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/777800\/","title":{"rendered":"Hobart City Council backs Halls Saddle transport hub, leaves size question open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hobart councillors have backed a master plan for a multi-million dollar visitor hub at the base of kunanyi\/Mt Wellington<\/a>, but are yet to decide how big it should be.<\/p>\n

The City of Hobart voted 9-3 on Monday to receive and note the plan for the hub at Halls Saddle, a disused council-owned quarry near Fern Tree.<\/p>\n

Under the plan, visitors would park at the saddle and catch a shuttle bus to the summit, instead of driving up Pinnacle Road.<\/p>\n

Terroir Architects drew up four designs, ranging from $15.33 million to $34.83 million.<\/p>\n

The firm recommended a three-level car park with 212 spaces, costing $23.45 million.<\/p>\n

\"\"The proposed visitor hub would be built at Halls Saddle near Fern Tree. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Councillors Ben Lohberger, Bill Harvey and Ryan Posselt backed the biggest and most expensive option \u2013 a five-level, 408-space design costing $34.83 million.<\/p>\n

Lohberger moved the motion. He thanked those who \u201cpushed to rejuvenate this proposal after many years of it being sidelined by the cable car\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis really is the answer for the mountain or is a big part of the answer for the mountain and I\u2019m so pleased that it\u2019s progressing quickly,\u201d Lohberger said.<\/p>\n

Harvey said funding would be the big test.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding will be the issue down the track, but if we\u2019re ready to roll and we\u2019ve got state support, that\u2019ll help us get federal government support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Terroir Architects has designed four options ranging from $15.33m to $34.83m. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Posselt said it was easier to scale a building down after community consultation than to make it bigger.<\/p>\n

The council has not chosen between the two designs yet.<\/p>\n

Officers will instead prepare a discussion paper on future vehicle access to the Pinnacle, which will steer whether the smaller or larger hub is built.<\/p>\n

Alderman Marti Zucco warned the council was getting ahead of itself, saying two key partners had not signed on.<\/p>\n

\"\"The mountain draws about 583,000 visitors a year. Image \/ City of Hobart<\/p>\n

He said the Wellington Park Management Trust and the state government still needed to commit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually love the concept, but the state government and the trust might turn around and say, \u2018no, we don\u2019t want that\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zucco unsuccessfully moved an amendment to formally write to both partners and ask them to work with the council.<\/p>\n

Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the council had received \u201clots of letters of support\u201d from state and federal MPs to land a $3.2 million federal grant for planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that other parts of other levels of government may not still say, oh, we\u2019ve got our pet project that they think is better than this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I think there\u2019s a huge amount of recognition that this is an under-utilised site, strategically located, that has such enormous potential to create something really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The proposed visitor hub would be built at Halls Saddle near Fern Tree. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The mountain is Tasmania\u2019s most visited natural attraction, drawing about 583,000 people a year.<\/p>\n

About 90% of visitors head to the Pinnacle, with most driving and causing congestion and safety problems on the narrow road.<\/p>\n

The hub revives a long-running debate over mountain access and comes as the state government prepares to hand down a review of the mountain\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

A council spokesperson said the master plan was \u201cnot a final design, but the beginning of a broader conversation with the community about the site\u2019s future\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hobart councillors have backed a master plan for a multi-million dollar visitor hub at the base of kunanyi\/Mt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-777800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}