Council planners have recommended to An Bord Pleanála that permission for a contentious 276-unit student accommodation scheme for Dún Laoghaire be refused.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has recommended refusal on four separate grounds.
Earlier this year, Baker Forge Properties lodged “fast-track” plans with An Bord Pleanála for a six-storey development at Baker’s Corner, Rochestown Avenue and Kill Avenue, Dún Laoghaire.
The scheme – which has the formal support of the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) – involves the demolition of the well-known Baker’s Corner pub and the construction of a replacement pub and two commercial units along with the 276-student accommodation units.
The scheme is facing opposition from local residents, a nearby nursing home, An Taisce and local TD Richard Boyd Barrett of People Before Profit-Solidarity. The recommendation from the council planners strengthens the objectors' case.
Scale and massing
The council said the scheme would adversely affect the amenities of adjacent properties due to its overall scale and massing. It also concluded that the scheme would have a detrimental impact on the character of the surrounding area and be visually overbearing and obtrusive.
Its planners found the excessive quantum of residential units planned relative to the quantum of commercial and other uses for the scheme “is considered to represent an unbalanced and disproportionate use of lands within a neighbourhood centre and if granted would be seriously injurious to the Neighbourhood Centre zoning objective”.
The council also said the scheme had an inadequate number of car parking spaces, which could “result in car parking overspill on surrounding residential roads”.
It concluded the scheme would seriously injure the amenities of properties in the vicinity and be contrary to the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Development Plan.
As part of the planning application, Brock McClure, a planning consultancy for the applicants, said the planning application “has been prepared in the context of the significant need for student accommodation in Dublin city and Ireland”.
An Bord Pleanála is due to decide on the application in January.
