Daphne, Penelope and Rachel Young have held the lease of the 0.55ha Frankton gardens since April 1, 1983.
It was initially granted for a 33-year term for ''the purpose of a parkland for zoological purposes with associated buildings''.
That lease expired on March 31, 2016 and, subsequently, the Young family sought a new lease on similar terms and with similar conditions.
Their application was notified in April last year and attracted five submissions - one from the applicant, three in support and one, from Remarkables Park Ltd, in opposition.
The hearings panel, former QLDC councillors Mel Gazzard and Merv Aoake, recommended the council grant a new lease for a five-year term.
However, after the hearing the council received a further written submission on behalf of the Young family from their lawyer, Revell Buckham.
On the day of the meeting when the lease was decided, last July, the council also heard an oral submission on the matter from Mr Buckham.
It ultimately voted to grant the lease for a 10-year term, with a 24-month notice period.
That prompted RPL to threaten to seek a judicial review because it was not invited to respond to the further submissions and had concerns about a breach of natural justice.
The matter came before the council again yesterday for the council to revisit its recommendation made last year.
Cr Scott Stevens said he had been part of the council which voted to double the recommended lease period for the family and while he was happy with that decision at the time he now felt he ''had made a mistake''.
He suggested the council revert to the recommendation made by the hearings committee and said if any of the recommended terms were to change ''I think we [need to ] go to another hearing''.
Mayor Jim Boult said he was ''uncomfortable'' with the decision made by the previous council.
''I'm not comfortable due process was followed.
''In my view, we probably should go back to the five-year term.''
He questioned whether the 24-month notice of termination condition needed to be examined, but Cr Alexa Forbes said given the matter had been through a process and subject to a hearing, to alter that would mean ''we would then be doing what the last council did''.
The council voted to grant the five-year lease, ''from now'', on the agreed conditions.
Mr Boult urged council staff to proceed with the reserve management plan for the area as soon as possible.
