A proposal to build Ireland's second tallest building - a 24-storey tower - and over 250 apartments at Sandyford Industrial Estate, Dublin 18, has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála, with one local referring to its height as "obscene".
Planning permission granted by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council for the development at the MJ Flood site on Blackthorn Road has been opposed by 14 parties, mostly residents of nearby Stillorgan Heath, Lakelands and Upper Kilmacud Road residential areas.
Noel Smyth's Wexele Ltd is looking to build two blocks ranging from seven to nine storeys around a central courtyard with a 24-storey apartment tower as part of one of the blocks. The other directors of Wexele Ltd are John McKenna and Nigel Kinnaird.
In all, the proposal is for 259 apartments, with 15 live/work units and commercial use on the ground floor, underground car-parking, a gym, crèche, cinema and 338 car-parking spaces. All façades of the tower are to have balconies, with a "winter garden" on the top floor.
If approved by the board, the tower will be second in height only to the 32-storey residential tower approved by An Bord Pleanála for a site opposite Heuston Station in Dublin.
Stillorgan Heath Residents Association said the development would be 162 metres above sea level - the RTÉ mast at 110 metres is only 16.5 metres above sea level - making it the highest structure in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
The association believes there has been no regard for adjacent residential areas and the tower would dominate houses in Stillorgan Heath.
As well as the traffic implications, it said the development has a high proportion of apartments, even though residential use is only "open for consideration" on the site under the county development plan.
It believes the financial returns for the county council from the development "have overridden any regard for the interest and amenities of existing residents".
Another local said that, if the development was approved, it would make way for similar high rise towers, which would transform the character of Stillorgan "into one resembling Hong Kong".
In its appeal, Lakelands Residents Association said plans for over 2,000 new units in the area will increase the apartment population to 15,000 in 10 years time. "When we questioned the council officials and planners on this at a meeting they had no idea on what the final situation would be and had no plans for the infrastructure for such a population.Each developer takes the attitude that they are not responsible for any other development, and Dún Laoghaire Rathdown says it only looks at planning on a case-by-case basis but we, the resident, have to live with the accumulated development."
