New land ownership reveal increases concerns about high density development
 |
| Zoning in Kilcullen LAP. |
Residents of Moanbane and adjoining estates concerned about the prospect of very high density development of the field beside Kaymed have become further alarmed with the discovery that an adjoining field is also in the ownership of the developer, writes Brian Byrne.
It's the field to the east of the 1.8ha site on which Curragh Property DAC have applied for permission to build a complex of apartments and nursing home facilities. In one of the documents submitted to Kildare's planners, there is a note about the 'adjoining lands located to the east which are also under the ownership of our client'.
That's the field on the other side of the walkway between Moanbane and Bishop Rogan Park. At 1.97ha it is larger in size to the site for which permission is sought. The field is, like the first one, zoned for 'industrial and warehousing' in the current Kilcullen Local Area Plan. The developers note that the zoning of both sites 'may not be encouraging the optimal use of these lands in terms of potential development'.
The current Kilcullen LAP period ended in 2020, and a new LAP is now being prepared. This is traditionally an opportunity for interested parties to lobby for a change of zoning.
The residents action committee say 'this is the line that exposes the whole thing'. "It shows that these plans are greater than we thought," says Siobhan Dunphy, who chaired the Town Hall meeting last Tuesday about the project. "It was buried in hundreds of pages, but one of our eagle eyed residents found it."
Photographs use Policy — Privacy Policy
