Developer of 300-home project must pay over €1m for new road
The developer of a 300-home project in the Cornamaddy area will have to pay out €1.8 million in special contributions towards a new link road and roundabout, it's been revealed.
A company called Akiyda Ltd, got the go-ahead in recent days to construct 305 residential units, down from 322 initially proposed, and a two-storey creche on 12.28 hectares in the Cornamaddy and Ballykeeran townlands, a small portion of which is owned by the local authority.
That's despite a string of objections opposing the Large Scale Residential Development Scheme (LRD) on a variety of grounds including claims of destruction of nature and ecology to traffic, scale and privacy concerns.
The developers must pay €1.3 million for the Cornamaddy to Coosan Link road that will service the development described as Ballykeeran Gardens as part of the 21 planning conditions laid down by the local authority. The provision of a new link road is via adjacent lands to the west (Marina Quarter) which also got the green light for new housing recently.
Another special contribution of €554,580 is requested for the existing roundabout onto the N55 Ballymahon Road and a portion of a link road, while a further €900,434.70 in development contributions must be handed over towards the cost of other infrastructure for the development.
Maps show the site is positioned on land to the rear of the BMW garage, just off what’s known as Bullet Road.
The revised proposal, following a request for further information in May, provides for of a mixture of houses and apartments, 175 of which would be two-storey residential dwellings, 151 three bed units and 24 four bed units.
In terms of the apartments/duplexes proposed, 25 would be one-bed units, 80 two beds and 25 three-bed units.
The apartment blocks range in height from two-storey to four-storey and the duplex blocks range from two storey to three storeys in height.
The planning permission granted this week is only for five years, not the ten years requested, according to the planning conditions.
The initial plans attracted 13 submissions, which raised a huge variety of issues from the lack of open spaces, green areas and playgrounds to the traffic impact, loss of privacy, concerns about the design of the project, the housing mix, the scale and the appropriateness of the location close to a rural backdrop.
The developer addressed the issues in a very extensive range of reports as part of the further information submitted, revising some design elements to deal with daylight and overlooking concerns and siting of some units. More data about proposed play areas, open space and updated ecology surveys, trees and landscaping plans also formed part of the extra information submitted.
Among the other stipulations of the approval is that no elements of the project will be constructed independently except under an agreed phasing plan, and a restriction that the first occupation of the homes is by individual purchasers, not a corporate entity.
There are also tree protection and ecological measures laid down and a condition dealing with the naming of the housing project. A bond of €1.8 million must also be paid prior to construction.
Akiyda Limited, with a registered address in Leixlip, Co Kildare, has listed its principal activity as the “raising of horses” on the solocheck.ie website, which provides company information in Ireland.