Francis St development gets go ahead from An Bord Pleanála
Local residents had appealed decision to permit mixed use development at Francis Street
An Bord Pleanála has given the go ahead for a development at Francis Street in Dundalk, that will see the construction of new apartments and retail units.
The Douglas Court Residents Association appealed Louth County Council's 2022 decision, to grant planning permission to Paula Tiernan for the construction of a new five storey mixed use building, comprising two retail/office units at ground floor level and 18 apartments over four storeys above.
The proposed apartments comprised 12 one bed apartments and six two beds. Four of the one bed apartments and one of the two bed apartments were planned for floor levels one-three, while floor level four consists of three, two bed apartments.
Planning permission for the development was granted on 19 August 2022, subject to 20 conditions, which included the omission of the upper levels of the northeastern section of the building, that would reduce the number of apartments by four.
The Douglas Court Residents Association lodged the appeal against the decision with An Bord Pleanála in September 2022. Among the reasons for the appeal included the impact the development would have on Right of Way and fire escape route; the impact on residential amenities; the impact on an Architectural Conservation Area; and also the potential impact on protected structures.
An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the development on 28 March 2024. In its considerations, An Bord Pleanála said that subject to conditions: "the proposal would be in accordance with the provisions of the current Louth County Development Plan, would not endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard, would not injure the residential or visual amenity of property in the vicinity and would, therefore, accord with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area."
Included in the 20 conditions laid out in granting planning permission, was that "in the interests of residential amenity", "the four-storey projection over the commercial unit to the rear of the proposed development shall be permanently omitted from the scheme."
Along with this, it said that "all residential parking spaces shall be constructed so as to be capable of accommodating future electric vehicle charging points with a minimum of 10% of spaces to be fitted with functional electric vehicle charging points", and that "a minimum of 39 no. bicycle parking spaces shall be provided within the site."