An Bord Pleanála has given the green light to plans for a five storey 38 unit 'build to rent' 'later living' scheme for Blackrock in south Dublin.
The appeals board has given Richard Barrett’s Bartra the go-ahead after concluding that the scheme would not lead to a proliferation of ‘build to rent’ developments in the area and would offer a good standard of accommodation to future residents.
The appeals board has also concluded that the scheme would not constitute over-development of the site.
In total, five appeals were lodged against the Council grant of permission by local residents.
They included appeals from retired local judge, Judge Patrick J McMahon and Ann McMahon.
Others to appeal were Terence Hayden, Nicholas and Susan Blake Knox, Denis and Aoife O’Connor and Niall and Elaine Doyle.
When the case was before Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Co Council, Judge McMahon claimed that the scheme "will create chaos in the area" and "will wreck the place".
In a hard-hitting objection, Judge McMahon of Mount Merrion Avenue told the Council that "the height of the building is outrageous".
Judge McMahon retired as a district court judge in 2013 and was subsequently appointed by Government in 2014 to the role of Confidential Recipient for Gardaí and gave evidence at the Disclosures Tribunal concerning his role.
The ‘Age-Friendly’ scheme proposed for Woodlands Park, Blackrock is aimed at ageing members of society and comes complete with two roof-top hot tubs.
Plans were first lodged in March 2022 and the case has been before An Bord Pleanála on appeal since November 2022.
The appeals board has granted planning permission after its inspector in the case, John Duffy concluded that the design and scale of the proposed development is appropriate for this major town centre site "and in my view the proposal constitutes an efficient use of residential zoned lands".
Mr Duffy also highlighted that 473 Build To Rent apartments have been granted permission within 1 km of the appeal site and "in my view this does not constitute a proliferation of Build To Rent in the area".
He also concluded that the proposed development "would not seriously injure the visual amenity of the area".
"In my view the proposed apartment building is a well designed contemporary development with high quality finishes and as such I am satisfied that it would visually integrate in the receiving landscape," he said.
Mr Duffy stated that he noted concerns raised in the third party appeals on the devaluation of property.
He said that he was satisfied that the proposed development would not seriously injure the amenities of the area to such an extent that would adversely affect the value of property in the vicinity.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
