Dublin City Council has given the green light to the United States embassy for 40 additional parking spaces at the former Jurys hotel site in Ballsbridge.
The council has granted planning permission after Arup, consultants for the applicant, the United States, cited security risks for the new external parking facilities.
In a submission, Arup said the embassy’s continued reliance on external parking facilities “is unsustainable and poses operational and security risks”.
The US was granted a five-year temporary planning permission for the surface car park at the former Jurys hotel site to accommodate 14 US government cars and 26 embassy staff cars.
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Arup said that the embassy site car park has reached its functional capacity and only has usable space for 15 fleet cars.
Some 29 US government cars are assigned to the embassy, including three BMW X5s for the ambassador and a Toyota Land Cruiser for US Secret Service use.
In the planning report recommending a grant of permission, the council planner cautioned the five-year planning permission “should not be viewed as establishing a precedent for similar staff parking arrangements for office or commercial uses”.
The report said the recommendation for planning permission “in this case is based solely on the specific and sensitive nature of the embassy use”.
The council’s transportation division was in favour of planning permission for 14 fleet car spaces only, and did not allow for any commuter parking for staff.
It said it did not consider that security and operational concerns constitute a reasonable basis for contravening council policy, which seeks to discourage commuter parking.
However, the planner in the case said that, given the sensitivities associated with embassy operations, the council is of the opinion this use differs materially from a standard office use.
The US government purchased the Jurys hotel site last year and intends to spend close to $700 million (€595 million) on the construction of a new embassy there.
Plans have yet to be submitted for the new embassy. Outlining the needs for additional parking spaces to serve the existing embassy, Arup said that “with 29 government-owned vehicles assigned to the Mission, daily reliance on off-site parking including paid lots, the Marine House and Phoenix Park is unavoidable”.
Arup said that “these fragmented arrangements have led to operational inefficiencies, restricted access, and temporary double-parking, raising safety concerns”.
The submission added that “the current embassy site cannot accommodate these requirements, and there is no scope for expansion”.
It said “the availability of the recently acquired Jury’s site has provided the embassy with a reasonable solution to adequately accommodate the surplus fleet vehicles, the needs arising from external visitors, as well as to provide car parking to a small percentage of staff that presently require travel by car but do not have parking provided”.
The submission said the shortfall in car spaces for fleet cars at the embassy creates “an inefficient, dispersed and potentially non-secure system”.
It said: “Security protocols require that vehicles transporting accredited diplomatic staff be parked within premises under direct US government control to ensure secure access, monitoring and perimeter control.”
Staff numbers have doubled since 2008. The embassy employs 170 with 59 per cent commuting by private car, and 85 per cent of those travelling alone.
