Published: Wednesday, 21st July, 2010 5:10pm

Ten-storey building plans fail at rezoning hurdle

Case expected to go to An Bord Pleanala

The controversial ten-storey building planned for Station Road, Athlone.

Controversial plans to rezone a site on Station Road, Athlone, to facilitate the construction of a new ten-storey building were defeated at a special meeting of Athlone Town Council on Monday last after the proposal failed to get the support of the required six members.

The decision was greeted by the loud cheers and claps of local residents who are bitterly opposed to the proposals.

Amid noisy and tense scenes at the meeting which was witnessed by over 20 local residents in the public gallery, a proposal to approve the rezoning for the development by Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, was not carried.

Instead, councillors were deadlocked on the issue after a vote, with four voting in favour of the proposals and four against, with one member, Cllr Kieran Molloy, absent from proceedings.

Interestingly, the vote crossed party lines with Fianna Fáil's Aengus O'Rourke and Kevin 'Boxer' Moran in favour of the rezoning, along with Fine Gael's Alan Shaw and former Mayor Mark Cooney. Cllr Paul Hogan of Sinn Fein and Labour's Jim Henson, along with Fine Gael's Gabrielle McFadden and newly elected Mayor Sheila Buckley Byrne made up the no camp.

Athlone Town Clerk John Walsh told the meeting that a qualified majority was needed to rubber stamp the Station Road rezoning, constituting six members and, as this had not been reached, the proposal was lost, a result that elicited whoops and shouts from the crowd in the public gallery.

The proposal had received up to 20 submissions from local residents opposed to the plan, and from state bodies like An Taisce, who felt the development was not justified as it deemed the scale "inappropriate".

However, in the council report prepared by the executive, a recommendation to approve the zoning change was put forward to members of the local authority subject to conditions, one of which was a reduction in floor space.

Following an adjournment requested by Cllr Kevin 'Boxer' Moran for further consultation between members and the executive, he proposed that they go ahead with the zoning of the land, mindfulthat this site had been chosen by the previous council in terms of its tall building policy.

There was no public comment at all during consultation for the tall buildings policy, he pointed out, adding that the development could mean 400 new jobs for Athlone.

"With the recession it's the only ship in town," he said vociferously, reminding members that developers would not get funding for this kind of a development without a client. "This is a great opportunity for us, it should not be lost," Cllr Moran explained, even though he respected the views of residents.

After thinking long and hard about the issue, Cllr Gabrielle McFadden said she was not against development or jobs but her concerns boiled down to two separate reasons.

The first, she feared another white elephant in the town, which would be vacant for years to come. She wondered what company needed 6,856 square metres of space, when there was over 5,000 square metres, over 80% what the developers were looking for in the 10-storey building plans, already avaiable in the nearby Texas Centre. Why not develop this instead, she said to the approval of the public gallery.

Her second point of opposition concerned the failure of the plans to address residents concerns that it would be visually intrusive and an overdevelopment of the site. She also referred to worries about noise, dust, security and safety, all paramount to people living in the area. "The council represents all of the people but who is representing the residents of St Francis Terrace and Southlands and others? I'm standing up for them."

Meanwhile, Cllr Alan Shaw said as he understood it, the ten-storey building would have capacity for 440 workers, and even if it went through tonight it would be a number of years before it came to fruition. No other building in the town would have that capacity if an employer came forward and it would set Athlone apart in a positive light, he claimed.

"Without change and progress the town will remain stagnant," Cllr Shaw argued, pointing out that the town centre was a vibrant mix of business, retail and residential buildings at present, and this development would bring "symmetry to the Sheraton tower".

However, he did call for a review of the Taller Buildings Policy which was adopted by Athlone Town Council in 2008, criticising former Mayor Paul Hogan, pointing out that they could not have a situation whereby the council was on the one hand creating policies but when proposals were put forward conforming with the previously adopted policy, members were not in support.

Undoubtedly, tenants would need to be secured before the project started, he went on to say. During construction it's estimated up to 120 workers would be needed. Taking cognisance of the issues and challenges to the neighbourhoods, the Fine Gael representative said he would like to see residents facilitated with a play area, fencing and sound barrier.

The biggest difficulty for Cllr Paul Hogan of Sinn Fein was the interpretation of a tall building. "For me it could be five, six or seven storeys high. To others it could be ten to fifteen."

He took issue with a ten-storey tower, which he said would tower over residential properties causing overshadowing to at least eight properties.

Cllr Hogan also highlighted the issue of access, the adequacy of the road network to cater for additional machinery and design, size and scale of the project he had a major problem with. Taking issue with comments from Cllr Shaw, he said the town would not be stagnant and was not stagnant now.

Cllr Jim Henson of Labour said none of the members were planners but they had a decision to make, clarifying that he could not be in favour of a "small Ballymun out the back" with a lot of vacant premises in Connaught Street, the Texas Centre and derelict sites in town.

He said he feared it would just lead to more dereliction in Athlone and just didn't see how it would fit into the area.

Although Cllr Aengus O'Rourke said the decision appeared to be a foregone conclusion, in his opinion, he trusted the executive and the planning department, that this was a quality development for Athlone. Although appreciative of local residents, he said to him this project meant jobs, a very important consideration for the town in the middle of a recession.

"A high quality development would attract a corporate head office and that means high-end jobs," he concluded.

Mayor Sheila Buckley Byrne said nothing about the location satisfied her, pointing out that the site didn't allow for a high-rise building, which would be out of character with a garrison town and the small streets.

She also expressed major concerns about the environmental impact on residents, and the infrastructure like the roads or the still-awaited drainage system to support the project, while the Independent public representative had big questions about the overall sustainability of the 10-storey development in a small site close to a residential area.

She said the building would be too tall and she could not support the proposal, stressing that it was not to do with jobs but with democracy and looking after people living in the town.

As the vote was about to be taken, an up-to-then absent Mark Cooney of Fine Gael walked in quipping that his timing was either very good or very bad, but he was in favour of the plan.

This left both sides deadlocked at four-all after a vote, meaning the site zoning's remains the same and planners will be forced to issue a refusal to the developers, a situation that means the plan is likely to go to An Bord Pleanala for final