ONLY 13 houses in the Castleknock area of Dublin would be within 160 metres of the 63,000 seat stadium planned for the Phoenix Park Racecourse, compared to almost 600 in the case of Croke Park, the Bord Pleanala public inquiry into the Mr Derek Dockrell, of architects Burke Kennedy Doyle and Partners, also said the proposed buildings - which include a 349 bedroom hotel, national conference centre, casino and 12,000 seat indoor arena - would cover 18.5 per cent of the 116 acre site.
He cited the view of Mr David O'Connor, Fingal's county architect, that for a development of such size and complexity the buildings would "function well in a remarkably unobtrusive way" and that the design demonstrated "remarkable skill and ingenuity".
Mr Dockrell was replying on the fourth day of the hearing to claims by local residents and other objectors that the complex would be visually obtrusive. He said the intention was to provide a series of "public buildings in a landscaped parkland setting".
Mr Brian Meehan, planning consultant for the developers, Sonas Centre, said the views of the county architect were "centrally relevant" to the issue of residential amenity and the provision of a "visual break". The proposed 30 acre landscaped area in the middle of the site would provide an attractive amenity", he added.
He also referred to the discrepancy between the view of the Fingal county manager, Mr Davy Byrne, and his former chief planning officer Mr Len O'Reilly saying the only difference in their "near identical" assessment of the project was that Mr Byrne favoured granting permission while Mr O'Reilly recommended refusal.
Mr Meehan also clarified the developers' intentions regarding four remote car parks to provide a "park and ride" service for spectators going to the stadium. Though these facilities were seen as essential, they were not part of the application but could be "conditioned" as an operational matter by An Bord Pleanala.
Mr Frank Simons, a transportation specialist appearing for the developers, said they "would not want any event to be marred by traffic chaos". There was sufficient capacity in the roads network, with minor improvements, to cater for stadium traffic.
Mr Larry Kenny, the developers' noise expert, said it was impossible to predict noise levels from crowd roar at the stadium. However, he had never heard of any complaints from people about noise emanating from a football stadium.
Mr David Bagnall, landscape architect for the developers, denied that the scheme would represent an "overpowering intrusion" into the Phoenix Park.
Mr Bill Hastings, of ArcSurvey, which specialises in photomontages, took issue with evidence given earlier by Mr Conor Skehan, on behalf of the West Dublin Action Group, the main objectors.
He said it was "clearly ridiculous to equate visibility with negative impact", adding that the stadium would not be seen from all over Dublin.
