Dublin Corporation's planners have rezoned the last remaining pieces of agricultural land within the city boundary, but they are determined that these greenfield sites will not be developed for "wall-to-wall housing".
The three parcels of land are Pelletstown, between the Royal Canal and the Tolka river; Larch Hill, the Santry home of Mr Mark Hely-Hutchinson, former governor of the Bank of Ireland; and the "north fringe" above Donaghmede and Darndale.
Lack of water and sewerage has been the main impediment to developing the north fringe over the years, but a new drainage scheme, already sanctioned, is bound to open up the area. The only question now is what kind of development will take place there.
Mr Pat McDonnell, the corporation's chief planning officer, said he envisaged that the lands on the north fringe would be developed for high-tech industries in a new "Silicon Valley" extending from the Baldoyle Estuary as far west as Blanchardstown.
"It's on that scale we should be thinking," he said. "The Government has said it's interested in a high-tech initiative for Dublin, and surely this is the place for it instead of letting the land go for retail warehouses and suburban housing at 10 units to the acre."
Mr McDonnell said the north fringe had major advantages because of its proximity to the airport, DART, the Dublin-Belfast railway line, the M50 and its associated road network as well as Dublin City University.
In collaboration with Fingal County Council, the corporation intended to start work soon on an area action plan for the north fringe which could also incorporate provision for "desirable high-rise, high-density, executive-style housing", the chief planner said.
Mr Rory Deegan, the senior planner who played a pivotal role in drafting the new city plan, said action plans would also be drawn up for the other two areas of farmland being rezoned, at Larch Hill and Pelletstown, to lay down guidelines for development.
The three areas account for some 700 acres of agricultural land. At present, Pelletstown forms part of an unofficial green belt between Ashtown and Finglas and its undulating landscape re mains a development constraint, according to Mr Deegan.
"We're very conscious that these areas shouldn't be developed in a piecemeal or haphazard way," he said. "Local residents have made it clear that they don't want wall-to-wall housing and we would favour well-designed high-density housing in a good environment."
Mr Deegan said the planners were also determined to retain open space as a public amenity, particularly when lands owned by religious orders came up for redevelopment. These sites, too, would require comprehensive plans rather than piecemeal development.
"If we're bringing more people to live in the city, we're going to need more parks. We don't want management companies putting gates around land for the exclusive use of residents of new housing schemes. That's why we've specified that it must be open to the public."
Among the institutional lands likely to come up for redevelopment are Clonliffe College, which is down to just a few seminarians, and All Hallows College, both in Drumcondra, but the plan specifies any future uses must protect their environmental amenities.
The planners also want to hold on to sports grounds, such as Bective Rugby Club in Donnybrook, where new floodlighting was opposed by local residents. "If we're going to keep them in the city, we have got to permit them to use the grounds fully," Mr Deegan said.
He said measures would also have to be taken to protect traditional "village" centres such as Rathgar and Terenure, which were coming under increasing pressure from shopping centres, lack of on-street car-parking and very high levels of through traffic.
Mr McDonnell said the draft city development plan, which was put on public exhibition at the Civic Offices this week for three months, was "the people's plan, in a sense" and the corporation wanted as many Dubliners as possible to articulate their views on it.
