Council's concerns about scale and height of Athlone retail and apartments plan
Westmeath County Council has requested detailed further information on a proposal to develop 21 apartments and six retail units in a new building across the road from the TUS Athlone campus.
In doing so, the local authority highlighted a number of concerns it had about the plans submitted for the development, which would be located at the Dublin Road site of existing businesses The Good Cafe, Asian Foods Store, and Pat Smith Craft Butcher.
These existing business premises would be demolished to make way for the proposed project.
Trevor Allen lodged a planning application for the five-storey mixed-use development last December, and a decision on it was due to be made by the council on Friday last, February 14.
But on Thursday the council opted to request further information on the plans under ten different headings, saying its planners regarded the proposed residential density of the apartments as "overly excessive" given the "constrained" nature of the site.
"The massing, scale and design approach does not represent the optimum urban design solution for the site," the council stated.
It added that it had concerns about the proposed five-storey height of the development, saying this should be reduced to a maximum of four storeys in order to ensure "greater assimilation into the existing streetscape".
The council said the legal ownership of the development site in its entirety, as identified within the red line boundary submitted within the planning application, had been "disputed by a third party" and that the applicant was required to submit "legal evidence" to show "clear legal ownership of the overall site".
A question was also raised by the local authority about the possibility of "overshadowing" from the development and "loss of daylight" impacting on neighbouring buildings, and it asked the developer to submit a 'Daylight and Sunlight Assessment' as a result.
The design of the proposed development "falls short" of the design standards outlined in the Athlone Town Development Plan, and the national design guidelines for apartments which were issued in 2022, the council argued, and it sought revisions to the plans in this regard.
Another concern raised in the further information request was that the proposed development "would appear to block" an existing emergency access and wayleave which is currently in situ on the western elevation of the neighbouring Daly's Apartments building.
In addition, the local authority said a proposed loading bay to the front of the application site "would require the relocation of the existing pedestrian crossing" on the Dublin Road, but that "no detail of this has been addressed in the application".
With regard to the proposed retail units as part the development, the council asked for further detail to be provided in order to "clarify the intended use for each proposed ground floor unit".
In relation to the 'Part V' requirements, which compel developers of housing projects to allocate 20% of the units as social or affordable housing, the council said documents submitted in relation to the Part V proposal "incorrectly state that a total of 23 residential units are proposed within the scheme".
It also said the Part V submission "indicates an additional one-bed unit on the third floor which is not shown on any other plans within the submission".
It asked for a revised provision of five units - one three-bed, two two-bed, and two one-bed units - to be provided for the council's use under the Part V requirements.
The developer now has a period of six months, until mid-August, in which to respond to council's request for further information.