Residents’ anger at NAMA proposals for Crown Square

NAMA says it may not be viable to develop the vacant Crown Square site in Mervue without loosening planning restrictions on it.

NAMA-appointed receivers of the site have asked city planners to relax rules capping the number of houses and apartments that can be built on the 12.65-acre site.

The draft City Development Plan 2017-2023 says: “Any residential component, either houses or apartments, shall comprise no more than 20% of the overall floor area of the development.”

But joint receivers, Kieran Wallace and Patrick Horkan, acting for the National Asset Management Agency, want this 20% residential cap removed.

In a submission to planners, they have urged them to remove the residential cap, although this is being resisted by locals.

“There is huge concern about this,” a Monivea Road residents’ representative said.

“When this site was sold years ago, a lot of work was put into restricting heights and putting caps on residential for this site. These restrictions were put into the development plan, and for good reason. We lobbied hard to get them.”

For more on the proposals and residents’ opposition, see this week’s Galway City Tribune