Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2.. View directions

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Minutes of meeting of 29th November 2016 pdf icon PDF 224 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Order: Agreed

2.

Matters arising

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Minutes:

Item 6: AOB – Motion from N/West Area Committee re CPOs

Manager has written to the Department re streamlining the CPO process.

 

6.  Update on Vacant Land Levy

     Awaiting clarification relating to title; having sent notices to owners they have 4 weeks to respond.  Some sites will be available for the public to view on the website in about 5 weeks time.  Where the owner(s) cannot be traced, the Department will have to legislate for these instances.

 

9.  Motions

     Cllr Mary Freehill re DIT rezoning

     Working group is being set up.

3.

Dublin One Plans pdf icon PDF 2 MB

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Minutes:

Richard Guiney from Dublin Town did a presentation on Dublin One Plans.  The main points were; there is a migration of people moving back into city centres to live.  Shopping is still the number one reason for people to coming into the city.  The Northside needs longer opening hours and more diversity, particularly along Henry Street, as the footfall slumps rapidly after 6pm there when compared to the Southside where people continue to shop and socialise until late in the evening.  The American Institute of Architects are making their first visit to Ireland 10th to 13th March, and the Members are invited to attend a public consultation they are hosting in the Gresham Hotel on Friday, 10th March at 6pm.

 

Whilst the rebranding was recognised as positive, it needs marketing.  Issues discussed were the number of hotels; Airbnb; matters of safety in the city centre; encouraging living-over-the-shop developments; possibly more pedestrianisation of streets and wider footpaths; longer opening hours; and better public transport, including going underground.

 

Order: Report noted

4.

Student Accommodation pdf icon PDF 4 MB

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Minutes:

The A/City Planner advised that there are an estimated 80,000 students currently in Dublin with a shortfall of 16-18,000 beds.  The number of approved bed spaces in the city is nearly 6,000, 70% of which are on brownfield sites.  1,700 bed spaces are under construction but important to note that not all schemes that are approved are built.  There is a condition on all purpose-built student accommodation blocks that they be used only for student accommodation during the academic year.  Departmental guidance provided is that they are kept under the management of the professional management company, that company should be allowed to rent that accommodation for tourists or visitors to the city outside the academic year, to promote tourism, conferences, and continued use.  That is likely to go in as a condition to planning permission.

 

Report: Noted

5.

Members Planning Fees pdf icon PDF 265 KB

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Minutes:

Councillors have a duty as public representatives, to represent the local people.  Councillors do not accept the Department’s report and want DCC to reject it.

 

Councillors would like to see a change to the legislation.  Suggestion was made to get legal opinion as to whether the Councillors are considered to be part of the Planning Authority (Section 29) and therefore not liable for fees.

 

The ACE reminded the meeting that we have no option but to enforce the Regulations as they currently stand, but we have written to the Minister requesting a change to the Regs on behalf of the SPC. We have received a response that the Minister is considering the matter as part of the review of Planning Legislation. 

A further Report will be on the Agenda for the next meeting.

 

Order:  Noted, with further Report to follow

6.

Ireland 2040: National Planning Framework Plan Issues Paper pdf icon PDF 230 KB

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Minutes:

The A/City Planner advised the Minister has requested that this Issues Paper be brought to the SPCs and the full City Council for debate, and a distillation of those views be forwarded to the Department.  The aim of the NPF is that it will replace the 2002 National Spatial Strategy.  It is up to us as an Authority to put our case forward, to make a statement that will put shape and firmness into the draft when it comes out because the draft is the real opportunity when the City Council and all Local Authorities can make their views known.

 

A discussion ensued and the members comments will be included in the submission to the Department.

 

Order: Agreed to prepare a submission to the Department on behalf of this SPC and the full City Council meeting (6th March), and a copy be circulated to the members of this SPC

7.

Poolbeg SDZ pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members commented on the Draft Scheme previously circulated and it was agreed that external committee members could be included in presentations on this and other SDZs around the city.  The Chief Executive’s Report on the public consultation phase will be circulated on 13th April. Regarding the district heating system, the feasibility study is currently being carried out and we have ensured that the Scheme is district heating enabled.  Wind tunnelling has been carefully considered and there will be architectural designs included to mitigate the effects including soft and hard landscaping and other architectural design of the buildings themselves to minimise the risk.

 

Order: Report noted

8.

Motions

Emergency Motion submitted by Councillors C Cuffe and C Burke was adopted at the 6th February 2017 City Council Meeting, and referred to this SPC:

 

“In regard to late-night and weekend working on Dublin Docklands construction sites that the City Council notes with concern the continued and ongoing derogations from the terms of Planning Permissions granted under the Dublin Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) for late-night and weekend working which are reducing the amenity of nearby residents, and notes the evidence submitted by residents to Council staff suggesting that certain Docklands sites are neither complying with the terms of the Planning Permissions granted nor the derogations, and instructs the Chief Executive to make greater efforts to protect Docklands residents and allow them the peaceful enjoyment of their homes, particularly late at night and over weekends”.

 

Motion 483 from Councillor Tina MacVeigh deferred from the January South Central Area Committee Meeting (amended 15th February 2017), and referred to this SPC:

 

“This Area Committee supports the occupation of Apollo House by housing activists and calls on Dublin City Council management to implement the following motion agreed at the City Council meeting on 10th November 2014:

 

That this Council open an ‘Unused Properties Register.’  The owners of private properties that have been unused / empty for a period of more than six months (as per CSO Census 2011 and other official statistics) will be required to register their intention for use with Council.”

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Emergency Motion submitted by Councillors C Cuffe and C Burke was adopted at the 6th February 2017 City Council Meeting, and referred to this SPC:

 

“In regard to late-night and weekend working on Dublin Docklands construction sites that the City Council notes with concern the continued and ongoing derogations from the terms of Planning Permissions granted under the Dublin Docklands Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) for late-night and weekend working which are reducing the amenity of nearby residents, and notes the evidence submitted by residents to Council staff suggesting that certain Docklands sites are neither complying with the terms of the Planning Permissions granted nor the derogations, and instructs the Chief Executive to make greater efforts to protect Docklands residents and allow them the peaceful enjoyment of their homes, particularly late at night and over weekends”.

 

Response:

The EM advised that this is an issue that we’ve been dealing with for months due to the significant level of development in this area..  Meetings have been held with contractors on site outlining their responsibilities.  We have met with residents and public representatives, and have put in place a system of inspection with staff from Planning Enforcement, Building Control and Administration over the past few weeks.  We are also looking to allocate some additional staff to Docklands. 

 

Specifically the two main areas that we’ve been dealing with, which are of concern to the residents, are the breaches of the standard permitted working hours and the issue of excessive hours of work extensions specifically in terms of the pouring of concrete and associated power floating.  We are putting in place protocols to deal with these issues.  The EM will circulate the draft document when it is completed.

 

 

Motion 483 from Councillor Tina MacVeigh deferred from the January South Central Area Committee Meeting (amended 15th February 2017), and referred to this SPC:

 

“This Area Committee supports the occupation of Apollo House by housing activists and calls on Dublin City Council management to implement the following motion agreed at the City Council meeting on 10th November 2014:

 

That this Council open an ‘Unused Properties Register.’  The owners of private properties that have been unused / empty for a period of more than six months (as per CSO Census 2011 and other official statistics) will be required to register their intention for use with Council.”

 

Cllr McVeigh has asked that this be deferred to the next meeting.

9.

A.O.B.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paperless Meetings

 

The EM said that the members have previously been advised by the Chief Executive’s Office that they will no longer be issued with hard copies of the Agenda and Reports.  A soft electronic copy only will be provided.  We have been asked by the Chief Executive’s Office to remind members again of these changes.

 

Odran Reid requested that he be given access to the modern.gov system.  Cllr Ryan requested that hard copies of maps might still be made available to members as it is impossible to read maps on an iPad.  The Chair suggested that we should see how this new systems works out and review it if needs be.

 

Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday, 25th April 2017