Riverstone Holdings has applied for a concession to build a 43km monorail from Kiwi Burn, near the Mavora Lakes, through the Snowdon Forest to Te Anau Downs, 29km of which would be through conservation land. It would be the final journey in the proposed Fiordland Link experience, which would include a catamaran over Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown, and a four-wheel-drive journey to Mavora Lakes.
The proposal also includes a mountain bike track linking Lake Wakatipu and Lake Te Anau which would double as a maintenance road.
The Department of Conservation (Doc) has indicated it will approve the concessions, subject to public submissions.
Nine submitters spoke at the hearing, chaired by Graeme Ayres.
Mr McNeill said the application was lacking in information, such as the exact route of both the monorail and the mountain bike track, so it was impossible for a decision maker to understand its effects, or any mitigating factors.
"There is indeed a very serious lack of information. I don't see how any decision maker can make any decision at all, on this basis."
Mr McNeill said the application was also inconsistent with the Mainland Southland West Otago Conservation Management Strategy (CMS).
The strategy's intent was to protect traditional recreational users' experiences, such as hunting, fishing, and tramping.
Under the CMS, the monorail should avoid damaging important natural values including landscape features, but the proposal would not do that, Mr McNeill said. Submitter Philip Sanford said the destruction of the forest could not be mitigated, and the proposal was "totally unacceptable".
"Putting infrastructure such as a monorail through the area would fail to preserve the integrity of the conservation land."
Hueline Massey, speaking via telephone from Warkworth, said the monorail would intrude on the wilderness of the forest.
"Our national parks must remain, as far as possible, unmodified, remote places. The advantages of this particular area is accessibility for the younger and older members of our outdoor community, all the while achieving the wilderness and remoteness we want to have.
"It seems the monorail will be akin to building a 43km deer fence through the forest."
