30 May 2020

IGB Schools – Planning

The planning application for the secondary school is up online on the DLR Planning website. Planning Application Ref: D20A/0268. The final date for lodging any observation/objection is June 29th.

This planning application is for a 5 year period, for temporary buildings for the secondary school, and the location for these temporary buildings are to the front of the site (close to Goatstown Road).

However there are also a preliminary design in this application for the final layout (we’ll call it the “masterplan” for the site), when the permanent schools will be built. You will find this drawing in the planning documents that are online – look for the document called “Site layout plan”.

The scans online for this document are very poor quality, so we went out to the Planning Office in Dun Laoghaire (opened this week, appointment only) and got copies of this particular document. You can see it here.

As you will see in the design titled “Site Development Strategy”, the final school buildings are being proposed for the back of the site. There are no elevation plans with this application, so there’s no way of knowing how high the buildings are intended to be. Presumably at least three storey. Also note the three proposed pedestrian/cyclist access routes marked on this future masterplan – one on Farmhill Road, one on Mount Carmel Road, and one on Taney Avenue. The Council is really pushing what they call pedestrian and cyclist “permeability” in the County, so it is inevitable that there will be pedestrian access into the site. Having multiple access points will hopefully dilute any possible issues with these access ways.

One thing to keep in mind regarding this masterplan, is that this design accommodates the current F zoning, i.e. the requirement to keep the ratio of the built area vs open space at 40% vs 60%. In other words, under the current zoning, only 40% of the area can be built on, including surface area car parking. The zoning on this site will most likely change when the new County Development Plan comes into force in 2022. So, there is a good chance that this masterplan design will change.

Having said that, if you have any comments to make on either the temporary school plan or the proposed masterplan, be sure to submit an observation now.

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