Proposed €50m build-to-rent, senior-living scheme for Blackrock facing local opposition.
Last month Tetrarch Residential – part of the group that owns the Citywest Hotel – lodged fast-track plans with An Bord Pleanála for a 108-unit apartment scheme on lands overlooking Blackrock rugby club on Stradbrook Road in south Dublin.
The planning board has received a total of 80 third-party submissions, mostly from local residents, in relation to the plan.
In one objection, Aongus Ó hAonghusa and Philomena McCumiskey, from Windsor Park, Monkstown, said that “in our view the scale of the development is totally out of proportion with much of the existing houses and properties on Stradbrook Road, and represents a visually intrusive development in this suburban area”.
They went to the say that “the density of the scheme is inappropriate, with far too many units being proposed given the total site area”.
In his objection Brian Buckley, of Rockford Manor, Stradbrook Road, raised concerns over parking.
He expressed fears that the scheme would “result in the blocking of footpaths and local roads, which could result in serious injury, potentially the loss of life as a result of the decision made to progress with this proposal”.
In their objection, Dermot Casey and Jenifer Brunswick, of Windsor Drive, Monkstown, said that “this is an inappropriate scheme in terms of height and density, and will significantly impact on the residential amenity of all adjoining residents”.
In response to residents’ concerns over parking, club chairman of Blackrock College RFC, Patrick Finn, confirmed that the club would be submitting a planning application to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to replace the car parking which would be lost due to the proposed development.
Mr Finn told the appeals board that this would address concerns over rugby club parking provision generally “as raised with us recently by a number of local residents”.
The Tetrarch “integrated retirement community” application was made possible last year by the purchase of a site of around one acre from Blackrock rugby club. The deal was done in order to address the rugby club’s then debt of €1.2 million, and the agreement is understood to include an initial payment of €700,000.
