CITY TRIBUNE
Rising costs stall new hotel plan for Galway City centre
From the Galway City Tribune – The developer behind plans to refurbish derelict buildings on Dominick Street – and build a 46-bedroom boutique hotel – has put the project on hold due to rising energy and construction costs.
Eoin Carroll of Carroll’s Inns Ltd was granted permission in 2018 for alterations and extensions to numbers 39, 41 and 43 Dominick Street, all of which are protected structures, to make way for 46 bedrooms. Number 39 currently houses Carroll’s pub.
That planning permission is due to expire in January 2023, and the company has now sought permission for a five-year ‘Extension of Duration’ to complete the project.
“Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and now the rising cost of construction and energy, the building will need to be postponed based on feasibility at the present time,” city planners were told.
The City Council will decide in February whether to grant the extension of time.
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Mr Carroll had initially sought permission to develop a 43-bed hotel, pub and restaurant on the site, but following discussions with the local authority, revisions to the plans were drawn up, and the number of bedrooms was increased to 46.
The Council’s Senior Executive Planner Liam Blake in his planning report at the time, wrote: “The hotel is predominantly located in the rear portion of the site but also encompasses six bedrooms in part of the original building fronting Dominick Street, which should ensure the continued use of this protected structure in line with good conservation practice and the Development Plan policies.
“The rear portion of the site is also being redeveloped providing two internal courtyards and enhancing the relationship with the mill race to the rear, which is a protected structure. The existing mill race wall is being rebuilt and the portion which is currently open will have a new wall with railings or glazed screen.
“The removal of the central stair core, which was deemed surplus to requirements, has allowed the provision of three additional double bedrooms and a new store room.
“This brings the total number of bedrooms in the hotel up to 46, which is considered to be of benefit tot the overall tourist offer in the city,” Mr Blake wrote.
Planners approved the application, attracting a total of 19 conditions, including a stipulation that construction and demolition work can only take place from 9am to 6pm on Mondays to Fridays and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.
The applicants have also been ordered to pay €75,000 towards the cost of transportation facilities in the area and just under €31,000 towards the cost of providing services.
A conservation architect and an archaeologist must also be employed on the site to report and record any finds.
Fáilte Ireland supported the application, saying the proposal would be “a valuable addition to the accommodation stock in the city and would go some way to address the accommodation challenge being faced by the city”.
In 2019, An Bord Pleanála rejected plans for a fourth floor (with nine bedrooms and a lounge area) to be added to the proposals on the grounds that the additional height, scale and bulk of the extension was not acceptable and would constitute overdevelopment.
Mr Carroll’s other business interests include Get Furnished and Cash Factory Furniture, as well as Galway City Karting.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
The new Salmon Weir pedestrian and cycle bridge will be officially opened to the public next Friday, May 26.
Work on the €10 million bridge got underway in April 2022, before the main structure was hoisted into place in early December.
A lunchtime tape-cutting ceremony will take place on Friday, as the first pedestrians and cyclists traverse the as-yet-unnamed bridge.
The Chief Executive of Galway City Council, Brendan McGrath, previously said the bridge, once opened, would remove existing conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists and traffic “as well as facilitating the Cross-City Link public transport corridor over the existing 200-year-old bridge”.
The naming of the new bridge has been under discussion by the Council’s Civic Commemorations Committee since late last year.
One name that has been in the mix for some time is that of the first woman in Europe to graduate with an engineering degree – Alice Perry.
Ms Perry, who was from Wellpark, graduated from Queen’s College Galway (now University of Galway) in 1906. The university’s engineering building is named in her honour.
The bridge was built by Jons Civil Engineering firm in County Meath and was assembled off-site before being transported to Galway. Funding for the project was provided in full by the National Transport Authority and the European Regional Development Fund.
(Photo: Sheila Gallagher captured the city’s new pedestrian footbridge being raised on the south side of the Salmon Weir Bridge in December. It will officially open next Friday, May 26).
From the Galway City Tribune – Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, Kieran O’Donnell was labelled a “disgrace” for overturning councillors’ decisions to rezone land in the new City Development Plan.
Minister O’Donnell (pictured) confirmed in a letter to Council Chief Executive Brendan McGrath last week that he was reversing 25 material alternations made by councillors to the CDP 2023-29. He made the decision on the advice of Office of Planning Regulator (OPR).
Minister O’Donnell directed that 14 land parcels that were subject to land-use zoning changes by councillors as part of the Material Alterations to the Draft CDP should be reversed.
He directed that a further 11 land parcels in the city should become “unzoned”.
The Minister found that the CDP had not been made in a manner consistent with recommendations of the OPR, which required specific changes to the plan to ensure consistency with the national planning laws and guidelines.
At last week’s Council meeting Cllr Eddie Hoare (FG) asked for clarity on the process by which councillors could rezone the lands that had been changed by the Minister’s direction.
Cllr Declan McDonnell said, “What he [Minister O’Donnell] has done is an absolute disgrace”.
And he asked: “Do we have to have another development plan meeting to deal with it?”
Both Cllrs Hoare and McDonnell wondered what would become of the lands that were rezoned or unzoned by the ministerial direction.
Mr McGrath said the Council had put forward an argument in favour of retaining the material alterations in the plan, but ultimately the Minister sided with OPR.
He said if councillors want to make alterations to the new plan, they could go through the process of making a material alteration but this was lengthy.
The Save Roscam Peninsula campaign welcomed the Minister’s decision.
In a statement to the Galway City Tribune, it said the direction would mean the Roscam village area on the Roscam Peninsula will be unzoned and a number of land parcels would revert back to agriculture/high amenity.
A spokesperson for the campaign said: “the material alterations made by city councillors following lobbying by developers continued the long-standing practice of councillors facilitating a developer-led plan rather than an evidence- and policy-based plan that meets the needs of the city.
“The Minister’s direction is an important step in restoring confidence in the planning system. It is clear from the City Council’s own evidence on future housing projections that there was no requirement to zone these lands for residential purposes in order to meet the needs of the targeted population increase up to 2029,” the spokesperson added.
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