Developer Covelo has appealed the rejection of plans for an apartment scheme on a sensitive site in Killiney, south Dublin, which has drawn the ire of local residents, including activist Ali Hewson.
Covelo Developments has asked An Coimisiún Pleanála to overturn Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council’s decision to refuse permission for the 32 luxury apartment plan in the grounds of Montebello House.
The proposed scheme envisaged one three-storey apartment block with 11 one-bed apartments, eight two-bed three person apartments, 10 two-bed four person apartments and three three-bed apartments.
The local authority said the height, scale and bulk of the proposed apartment block would be incongruous in the context of the protected structure and its curtilage.
RM Block
The planning authority also found that the scheme – which had run into opposition from Hewson and other Killiney residents – “would fail to successfully integrate with the historic character of the site”.
In her submission, Hewson, wife of U2 frontman Bono, told the council that “the development of a large block of apartments on this site, of such a scale, density and design goes against the natural character of the surrounding area”.
The council planner’s report, which had recommended refusal, did provide some comfort to Covelo, stating that the council “is wholly supportive of the principle of a sensitive infill residential development on the subject site”.
The rejection came just over a year after a previous Covelo plan for the site – also objected to by Hewson and other local residents, including choreographer Morleigh Steinberg, wife of U2’s The Edge – was rejected by the council on the grounds it underdeveloped the site.
An Coimisiún Pleanala backed the council’s rejection of that plan which had envisaged four “very large” two-storey, four-bedroom flat-roofed houses, saying the housing density proposed “would represent underdevelopment of an accessible site with convenient access to frequent public transport services via Killiney Dart Station and facilities in the nearby neighbourhood centre”.
At that time, An Coimisiún Pleanála inspector Siobhan Carroll suggested an alternative of terraced housing to achieve the required housing density.
