Marlet Property Group, otherwise known as Crekav or New Generation Homes, is once again pushing ahead with plans for a large scale residential development on the St Paul’s playing fields in St. Anne’s.

This time, they have split the application into two parts.

Part one is an application for a sports hall and two all-weather pitches, which are to replace the existing grass pitches to the rear of the school.  The larger of the two all-weather pitches will be outside the school wall, in the current St. Paul’s playing fields.  It is to be a full size, synthetic surface, flood-lit GAA pitch which will run alongside the main avenue of St. Anne’s just inside the tree line.  The smaller pitch will be in the current St. Paul’s school yard.  The sports hall will be on the site of the current St. Paul’s astro pitch and has been designed with its  doors opening out onto the main avenue of the public park via a large gate.

Part two of the application will deal with the residential element.  When this comes up, the developer will most likely cite these new sports facilities as sufficient for community and school use, thereby satisfying their obligations to maintain community and institutional use on these lands under Z15 zoning and leaving them free to build on all of the remaining land – almost 15 acres inside the park.

The deadline for observations on part one was October 9th.  Almost 100 objections have been lodged against this plan which is inextricably linked to the residential element of the application.  The decision taken by the planning authority on 3777/17 will ultimately influence the decision process for the residential development.

We have not seen part two, the residential application, but we are aware that it is currently in pre-planning with An Bord Pleanála under the new Strategic Housing Development plan which aims to fast track large scale residential developments in the city.

Information on the An Bord Pleanála website suggests that the draft application is for 104 houses and 432 apartments.  However, we will not know the actual scale of the development until the planning application has been officially lodged, at which stage the developer will place a site notice at the site and there will be an opportunity for the public to submit observations on the plans.  This application will be decided upon within a mandatory 16 week time period, including the public consultation period.  It is important to note that, according to information on An Bord Pleanála’s website, the cost per submission/objection under the Strategic Housing Development plan will be €20 per submission.  There is usually a much higher fee for submissions to ABP.

 

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