Council Briefs: Portobello Plaza, the Rathmines Post Office, and flood defences on the Dodder

Portobello Plaza

At the South East Area Committee meeting on Monday, Green Party Councillor Claire Byrne, for the fourth month in a row, asked about the status of the council’s delayed plans to redesign Portobello Plaza.

Locals had been waiting on those redesigns for almost a year, she said.

By February, the councillor was requesting updates on the status of the redesign “for the craic, at this stage”, she said, at the time.

In January, the council’s parks department had told members of the South East Area Committee that it planned  to kick off the internal planning process known as Part 8 during the first quarter of 2024. 

The committee was promised a presentation by Parks on progress at the April committee meeting, says a report.

The pre-Part 8 process, which involves agreeing the proposal with internal departments, had overrun due to some issues that arose late in the design process, the report said.

At Monday’s meeting, though, the promised presentation never appeared.

The prolonged delay for the council to deliver its plan for the plaza’s redesign means the hotel’s owners have been able to do whatever they wanted, said Byrne at the meeting. “It started with them just having their own car park outside the hotel when it opened before Christmas.”

While planters put a stop to that, now it appears that the hotel’s operators have pushed back those planters and painted a loading bay on the plaza, she said. 

“How is this allowed to happen, and what action is going to be taken against the hotel who just took it upon themselves to create a loading bay?” she said.

The council’s delays to its redesign of the plaza were now allowing the hotel to encroach on public space, she said.

A spokesperson for the Nyx Hotel did not respond when asked to clarify its planning permission and the loading bay.

In a motion, Byrne asked whether or not Dublin City Council had agreed to this loading bay and if it was a breach of the hotel’s planning permission.

The public plaza, next to the hotel, was not within the boundary of the planning application submitted by MKN Property, according to a report from the Transportation Planning Division.

While the original site plan showed a loading bay in the north of the plaza, the Transportation Planning Division required this to be omitted, the report said.

The council has to put a stop to this, Byrne said. “And the only way we stop this is by moving forward with the redesign of the harbour, which we are waiting a year for designs just to be tweaked.”

“Can we just move forward and take some very serious action against this hotel?” she said.

With developments like this, public amenities must always be built out first, said independent Councillor Mannix Flynn. “That’s the deal we do.”

Planning enforcement fines should be far higher, said Dermot Lacey, the Labour councillor and committee chair. “Breaches of planning should count against future planning applications.”

The current penalty for non-compliance with statutory planning enforcement requirements carries a maximum penalty of €5,000 or 6 months imprisonment or both.

Brian Hanney, the area manager, said he had visited the plaza on Monday morning and had spoken with the Parks Department, who agreed to move the planters back. “And I will be pursuing the matter with Planning Enforcement.”

The Part 8 process is nearly ready to commence before the committee next month, he said.

Rezoning Rathmines Post Office

An Post has plans to sell off six of its branches, reported the Irish Times in late February.

Since the news that one would be Rathmines, councillors on the South East Area Committee have been weighing up what the future holds for the art-deco post office on Upper Rathmines Road.

One possible response that came up at Monday’s meeting was to ask the council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, to use his authority to rezone the art deco building as a civic amenity.

Labour Councillor Fiona Connelly proposed that move, in a motion. 

The post office is currently zoned Z4, to provide for and improve mixed services, her motion said. It should be Z15, to protect and provide for institutional and community uses.

This kind of rezoning has been carried out before to protect some community assets, Connelly told the committee.

But, in his response, Frank Lambe, the acting executive manager of the Central and South East Areas, said that the decision to proceed with rezoning must be justified on sound planning reasons.

Zoning regulates the use of lands for particular categories of uses, Lambe wrote. “It does not control, nor should it have any role in, decisions of ownership.”

Also, changing the zoning wouldn’t mean the building would definitely be used for public purposes, he wrote. After all, Z15 permits medical facilities, restaurants, shops, training centres, places of public worship, residential institutions and childcare. 

“Any future owner would be in compliance with Z15 if permission was sought for the above and other similar uses,” he said.

Independent Councillor Mannix Flynn supported the motion. The state asset should have been handed over to the public, he said.

A new community facility is needed in the area because the Gulistan Depot site is set to be redeveloped for apartments, he said. “Dublin City Council should immediately seek to purchase this particular building.”

Fine Gael Councillor Anne Feeney said it would be crazy to lose this iconic building to the private sector. “We should be looking at it in terms of an arts space or community [space], and particularly given the citizens’ advice centre has closed in Rathmines.”

Michael Rossiter, a council senior executive planner, said the existing Z4 zoning would allow for a number of other uses. 

“And that’s keeping in mind that the purpose of the zoning is to avoid vacancy and to make sure Rathmines village stays viable as a centre,” he said.

Flood responses along the Dodder

Councillors got an update at the South East Area Committee on proposals for flood alleviation along the Dodder River.

Jannie Burger, an associate director with the engineering consultancy firm Ayesa, outlined proposals for the third phase of the scheme, for the stretch from Braemor Road to Clonskeagh Road.

They’re looking at improving existing flood defences and creating flood walls, he said. “And possibly demountable flood barriers and gates.”

Walls by the Nine Arches Bridge in Milltown would be raised by 30cm, with a new pedestrian footpath 1.3 metres above ground level, said Burger.

But an existing entrance into Shanagarry Park by the bridge may be closed off by the council, Burger said.  

Parks don’t want to keep it open, but the council’s Dodder Greenway Project does, he said. “There’s a slight disagreement there.”

Lacey, the Labour councillor, said the committee needs clarity on that. “I’d be concerned if any part of the Dodder was being closed off.”

Parallel to Milltown Road, by Strand Terrace, a new footpath would run along the river, although that footpath may be flooded from time to time, Burger said. 

“But that only happens for maybe one day a year, or not even that much. So that footpath will be a nice addition to the project,” Burger said.

Next to Strand Terrace is Scully’s Field, which Dublin City Council is looking to develop as a park to protect its biodiversity, according to the city development plan for 2022–2028.

In 2004, a local developer tried to get planning permission for apartments on some of the site. But, the following year, it was zoned as open space by the council.

Gerard O’Connell, a council engineer, told the committee there is still quite a bit of flooding there. “So development of it would be very problematic.” 

That was sad to hear, said Lacey, the Labour councillor.

This was disappointing because councillors put a lot of effort into getting most of the landowners around a table to discuss plans for the future of the field, said Fine Gael Councillor James Geoghegan. “And then you just sort of cursorily throw out, by the way, you can’t develop any homes on that site.”

There is no need to put flood defences on Scully’s Field and the council hasn’t changed the designation of the field, O’Connell said. “It can be developed for water-compatible elements, which could be parkland. That’s possible at the moment.”

A final public consultation on phase three of the Dodder Flood Alleviation scheme is scheduled for May, Burger told the committee.

The planning process will begin in late 2024, with construction slated to run from 2026 to 2030, according to the presentation to the committee.

Rather than being a Part 8 application – in which the council applies to itself for permission – this process will be a Part 10 in which an application is made to An Bord Pleanála, O’Connell said.

This is because there are a lot of environmental consequences to the scheme, he said. “We have reached the limits earlier on Part 8 procedures.”

But, O’Connell said, the final proposed scheme will be brought to the area committee again, as well as the full council.