A residents' association in the south Co Dublin village of Kiltiernan has called on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to "unequivocally reject" a draft local area plan (LAP) due to be presented to the council next week.

The proposed LAP has been branded "undemocratic" by the Kilternan Residents' Association, which claims that the county manager has failed to take on board many of the residents' concerns regarding the plan.

Over 700 submissions were made to the council regarding the LAP for the Kiltiernan/Glenamuck area. The plan sets out a vision for Kiltiernan which will give the village a heart, according to Julienne Brown, executive planner with the council.

Major planning decisions for the area have been put on hold since the adoption of the county development plan in April 2004 pending the adoption of the LAP. If the LAP is adopted and this development embargo is lifted, the population of the village could jump from 800 to 8,000-plus, given that there is zoning in place for an additional 3,000 residential units in and around the village.

The LAP will be voted on by councillors next Tuesday and, if adopted, will become part of the council's planning policy for the area.

A key element of the plan is a bypass to the east of the Enniskerry Road. A main village centre will be located on the east of Enniskerry Road and a secondary neighbourhood centre will be located to the west side of the road, on the side of the Palmer's Rest public house.

A substantial number of submissions were received by the council regarding the lack of provision of sites for schools in the LAP. The council is engaging with the Department of Education on the matter of school sites, according to Brown.

The width of the new bypass, provision of open space and building height were other key concerns among those who made submissions to the council. The LAP proposes that heights of two to three storeys be encouraged on the Enniskerry Road.

Heights of up to five storeys would be encouraged in high-density residential areas and buildings of up to six storeys will be permitted along a proposed bypass of the village of Kiltiernan. Kilternan Residents' Association says that these heights will ruin views of the Dublin mountains.

The organisation has also criticised plans for the distributor road or bypass, which it describes as "comparable in size with the M50 splitting the community, dividing families and demolishing homes".