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Study urged after tower gets go-ahead

Thursday, 13 March 2008

Local councillors in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown have been urged to adopt a recent study on recommendations for the development of tall buildings after An Bord Pleanála gave the go ahead for an 11 storey building in Booterstown.
Last week, An Bord Pleanála upheld a previous decision by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown to grant permission for the demolition of the former Shell filling station on the Rock Road and the construction of an 11 storey tower block with 48 residential units on the site.
In their appeal to An Bord Pleanála the Dornden Park Residents’ Association said that buildings of 11 storeys were too high for a residential area.
They said the development did not provide adequate parking and expressed concerns about the existing traffic congestion on the Rock Road and Trimblestown Lane.
The Building Height study commissioned by the county council and carried out by consultants Urban Initiatives last year recommended a low-rise high-density approach to development in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown.
Adopted
The report also recommended that tall buildings should be significantly curtailed - particularly in conservation areas and along the South Dublin coastline - if adopted in the county development plan.
Last year, An Bord Pleanala upheld Dublin City Council’s refusal for a 25-storey mixed-use scheme on the site of the Tara Towers Hotel on Merrion Road, Dublin 4,
The board said the proposals went against the council's high-rise building policy and would be "visually intrusive".
Following the board’s decision last week the Green Party vowed to seek the adoption of a ‘Building Height Strategy’ in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown.
Green Party TD, Ciarán Cuffe, said: “I am surprised and upset that An Bord Pleanála granted permission for such a tall building in the heart of a low-rise residential area. Residents are concerned that permission has been granted by the board. Although the building was reduced in scale from 13 to 11 storeys, it will still be almost twice the height of the Tara Towers.”
He added: “The site is not designated as suitable for such a tall building in Dublin City Council’s ‘Managing Intensification and Change’ or ‘A Strategy for Dublin Building Height’ or in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown’s own Building Height Study.”
A local Progressive Democrats activist in Blackrock, Victor Boyhan, said: “I am calling on Ciaran Cuffe and his Green Party councillors in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to take a proactive stand on the issue of inappropriate high buildings. By that I mean high buildings slapped up against one and two storey residential dwellings and high buildings in sensitive locations.”
He added: “Expressions of disappointment and frustrations by the Greens are no longer enough. The time has come for the councillors to adopt the Urban Initiative building height study commissioned by them and paid for by the tax payers."
Lodged
Cllr Nessa Childers (GP) stated: “We intend ensuring that the next County Development Plan (currently being drafted) incorporates the Building Height Study that was produced by Urban Initiatives last year. Although it was published after this planning application was lodged, we believe that it can be used to put in place a proper planning framework to control high-rise development in the county.”
The senior executive officer in the Economic Development and Planning Department of the Council, Declan McCullough, said that while the Building Height Study was not an adopted policy of the council, it would inform the current review of the County Development Plan leading to a new document for 2010 - 2016.
“At this stage it is not possible to pre-empt the outcome,” he said. “The process will be progressed this month beginning with issues and options papers on a range of topics, including high density and we are encouraging the public to participate in the consultation phase.”

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