Kerry councillors have voted for controversial development proposals in the Killarney area, ignoring strong warnings by management that in at least one case they were undermining the planning process.
The zonings were on foot of submissions to the draft plan for the Killarney-Tralee hub. At the outset of the meeting in Tralee, management urged councillors to make "broad and reasoned decisions" for a coherent plan and avoid a scattergun approach, even though they had been lobbied by individual landowners.
A number of developers or their representatives and landowners sat in the public area of the council chamber during the meeting of Kerry County Council in Tralee.
The councillors voted to zone lands for a "storage depot" in Aghadoe which overlooks the lakes of Killarney. Their proposal would "open up the Aghadoe area to light industrial use", senior planning engineer Tom Sheehy said, warning repeatedly against such a decision.
The landowner had a large parcel of other lands in a less sensitive area which might be developed for such a facility, Cllr Brendan Cronin (Ind) said. "The location is one of the most beautiful scenic routes in our county. Is it appropriate for us as a local authority to zone land as a storage facility adjacent to a tourist viewing point?" he asked.
Cllr Tom Sheahan (FG) proposed the zoning, with support from Cllr Danny Healy-Rae who said it was "a unique proposal" and Cllr Michael Healy-Rae who said it had "great merit".
County manager Martin Riordan asked councillors not to support a submission by garage owner Dermot Healy to zone land at Ballaugh in rural Killarney for a motor sales room.
The business had been developed without planning permission and was the subject of enforcement proceedings by the council, he said.
Cllr Paul O'Donoghue (FF) proposed the rezoning.
Cllr Robert Beasley (SF) and the mayor of Kerry, Ted Fitzgerald (FF), were among a minority of councillors, including former mayor Toireasa Ferris (SF), Cllr Cronin and Cllr John Brassil (FF), who voted against the development proposals.
Councillors also decided to zone a large parcel of land isolated from a town and village for low to medium density housing.
Planners said that zoning the 16 acres at Inchicullane between Kilcummin village and Killarney was "plucking a field out of the countryside - it had no connection with any town or village and was in effect "a housing estate in the middle of the countryside".