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DÚN LAOGHAIRE-RATHDOWN COUNTY COUNCIL Minutes of the County Council held in the County Hall, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. on Wednesday, 1 April 2009 at 5.00 pm PRESENT Bailey, J. F. Holohan, R. Bailey, M. Horkan, G. Baker, M. Joyce, T. Bhreathnach, N. Kivlehan, T. Byrne, J. Marren, D. Corish, T. Matthews, T. Cosgrave, L. McCarthy, L. Crowe, G. Mitchell O'Connor, M. Culhane, A. O'Callaghan, D. Devlin, C. O'Higgins, T. Dillon Byrne, J. O'Keeffe, G. Feighery, G. O'Leary, J. Fox, T. Smyth, C. Hand, P. Apologies for inability to attend were received for Councillor Conway, B. An Cathaoirleach, Councillor Tom Joyce presided. OFFICIALS PRESENT Kathleen Holohan (Deputy Manager), Tom McHugh (Director of Corporate Services), Charles Mac Namara (Director of Services), Tom Loftus (Director of Services), Frank Austin (Director of Services), Andree Dargan (County Architect), Dave Irvine (Senior Planner), Richard Cremins (Senior Planner), Denise Doherty (Senior Planner), Mary Henchy, Thomas Mahon (Administrative Officer), Dennis Daly (Chief Technician), Julie Craig (T/Conservation Officer), Johann Du Preez (Executive Planner), Naoimh Fleming (Executive Planner), Colin Fulcher (Executive Planner), Dara Holohan (Executive Planner), Anne O'Connor (Senior Staff Officer) and Adrienne Donnelly (Clerical Officer) DEV/157/09 Change of Zoning on Lands Known As The Park Village Carrickmines At the Special meeting of the County Council on 31 st March, 2009 it was AGREED to defer consideration of Motion Nos. 37 and 142 until a further special meeting of the County Council on 1 st April, 2009. The Council resumed consideration of motion numbers 37 and 142 as follows: "That this Planning Authority pursuant to Section 11 (5) (c) of the Planning & Development Act, 2000 resolves to amend the Manager's Draft Development Plan as follows: 1 “That the Manager change the status of the Park, Carrickmines from Neighbourhood Centre to District Centre in anticipation of and in order to cater for the projected residential and employment growth of Carrickmines, and the wider catchment area of Kilternan/Glenamuck, Carrickmines and Stepaside, with a projected population of 40,000 people, all located within a short distance of the centre and also served by the LUAS extension to Cherrywood.” "That this Planning Authority pursuant to Section 11 (5) (c) of the Planning & Development Act, 2000 resolves to amend the Manager's Draft Development Plan as follows: That the Manager change the current zoning on the lands known as The Park Village, Carrickmines, from Neighbourhood Centre to District Centre (Map attached) to permit greater opportunities for the creation of local employment.” The following additional report of the Manager which was circulated at the meeting was CONSIDERED: “Background Information 1.GREATER DUBLIN AREA RETAIL STRATEGY (GDARS) July 2008 (i) Retail Floorspace • GDARS prepared through late 2007 / early 2008. Covers period 2008-2016 • Figures employed in Strategy to determine projected floorspace need were based on 2006 Census data – at a time of record housing completions, strong economic growth, high levels of immigration by non-nationals following EU enlargement and historically low unemployment figures. The last two years has seen a significant reversal in all these indicators. • The GDARS text is sprinkled with a whole series of ‘health warnings’ in relation to the difficulties and dangers associated with projections over long time periods and the need to exercise caution. The Strategy comments that, “Increased population growth or increased economic activity will create higher levels of quantitative need just as less optimistic population projections and weak economic circumstances will reduce levels of need”. • The total retail floorspace need in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown up to 2016 identified in the Strategy is approximately 125,000 sq m (Low Projection) and 160,000 sq m (High Projection). These figures include for 20% floorspace being let to retail services. The differentiation between Low Projection and High Projection is based on the relative proportions of comparison retail floorspace to be provided in the form of retail warehouse units. • In recognition of the potential lead-in times to deliver certain types of complex retail schemes the Strategy recommends that a 20–25% ‘flexibility factor’ be built into the floorspace need calculations to address applications submitted prior to 2016 but not completed before 2021. With this ‘flexibility factor’ included the figures for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown increase to approximately 150,000 sq m (Low Projection) to 190,000 (High Projection). In addressing the ‘flexibility factor’ the Strategy cautions that these figures should be reassessed in light of both (i) the population growth in the County and whether it is above or below the RPG figures used in the Strategy and (ii) the levels of economic activity both nationally and locally which will impact on the retail spend by individuals in any catchment area. • While the County Council is obliged to ‘have regard’ to the various floorspace quantums set out in the Retail Strategy the wisdom of actively seeking to deliver 2 on these targets in the context of a softening economy must be questionable. Based on a number of factors, including:- - the unprecedented growth in the levels of retail floorspace constructed in the County over the last seven years; - the quantum of vacant floorspace associated with recently completed retail / mixed use schemes; - the quantum of ‘pipeline’ floorspace granted permission but not yet commenced construction and / or trading (see below); - the acknowledged underestimate of ‘Special Forms of Trading’ (SFT). it is considered it would be unwise at this time to contemplate floorspace needs figures in excess of 140,000 – 150,000 sq m into the future. ‘Pipeline’ scheme and floorspace ‘allocation’ commitments already afforded to the various District Centres in the current Development Plan are listed below. Location* Floor Area (Sq m) Details Cherrywood 50,000 sq m (35,000 sq m Town Centre and 3 no. villages of 5,000 sq m each) Dundrum Phase I 12,000 sq m Extension Dundrum Phase II 34,000 sq m (46,000 – 12,000 demolition of existing centre) Stillorgan 19,000 sq m (25,000 – 6,000 demolition of existing centre) Blackrock / Frascati 10,000 sq m (22,000 – 12,000 demolition of existing centre) HB Nutgrove 15,000 sq m Stepaside / Berarmine 8,000 sq m Deansgrange 2,000 sq m Sandyford Business 48,000 sq m Estate The Park, Carrickmines 18,000 sq m (*In addition to the above a notional 4,000 – 5,000 sq m has been allocated to Dun Laoghaire Town Centre to facilitate limited new retail floor-space and / or the re- development and expansion of established units). The stark conclusion from the above is that if all ‘pipeline’ retail floorspace and the committed ‘allocations’ were to be realised this would total approximately 220,000 sq m – well in excess of even the most optimistic floorspace needs evaluation set out in the Strategy. (ii) Retail Hierarchy The GDARS advises that the retail hierarchy is a core spatial policy around which the future growth, rejuvenation and expansion of the retail sector will be focussed. The retail locations detailed in the Strategy hierarchy should form the basis for determining the quantum and location for new retail development. The Strategy also stresses that “… there is a limited quantitative case to be put forward for the provision of new centres outside of those planned in the Regional Planning Guidelines” . The Manager’s Draft Development Plan fully concurs with this position. The Retail Hierarchy set out in the 3 Manager’s Draft Development Plan (Table 7.1) simply echoes the Hierarchy as set out in the GDA Retail Strategy viz:- Major Town Centres – Dun Laoghaire and Dundrum; District Centres – Blackrock, Stillorgan, Nutgrove, Cornelscourt and Cherrywood; Neighbourhood Centres – serving both established residential neighbourhoods and new neighbourhood centres focussed on areas subject to planned population growth. 2. THE PARK - CARRICKMINES • The Park, Carrickmines is located on lands zoned Objective ‘E’ – ‘To provide for economic development and employment’ in the current 2004 – 2010 County Development Plan. Retail warehousing is ‘Permitted in Principle’ while Shop (neighbourhood) and Shop (local) are ‘Open for Consideration’ under the zoning objective. There is also a Specific Local Objective on The Park “To provide for the development of a Neighbourhood Centre”. • The breakdown of different uses in the four quadrants of The Park are attached in Appendix 1 for information. These are based on existing and extant planning permissions. • In Quadrant 1 the c.18,000 sq m of retail warehousing was constructed and trading prior to Autumn 2007 when the GDASR data was being collated. • In Quadrant 2 the c.13,000 sq m of (primarily) retail warehousing was under construction in 2007 but did not commence trading until 2008. As such it was included as a ‘pipeline scheme’. • In Quadrant 4 Planning Application D08A/0052 was recently permitted by the County Council. In addition to significant commercial office space, the scheme also incorporates some 330 residential units, some 5,000 sq m of retail floor- space (2,500 sq m comparison / 2,500 sq m convenience) and ancillary uses (restaurants / retail services/ food courts etc) extending in total to an additional 5,000 sq m. 3. PROXIMITY TO COMPETING CENTRES • The planned Cherrywood Town Centre (35,000 sq m) is located less than 2.5 kilometres east of The Park, is served by the same Luas Line B1 extension and will, more properly, serve the same comparison goods catchment area as is described in the Motion. • The planned Kiltiernan Neighbourhood Centre is located less than 2km south of The Park. Pre-planning discussions have already commenced with the owners/developers in relation to the detailed planning and development of this scheme. • Priorsland, one of the proposed Cherrywood SDZ ‘urban villages’ (of c.