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Architect’s impression of the Oscar Traynor Road redevelopment.
Source: Glenveagh Properties
The DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL last night rejected plans to build 853 new homes on a remodeled site owned by the City Council.
The development on Oscar Traynor Road in Santry was established as a public-private partnership with developer Glenveagh.
According to the scheme, 50% of the homes would be private, 30% social and 20% affordable.
The development was part of the City Council’s Housing Lands Initiative, developed in 2015, which aims to work together with developers to build a mix of social, affordable and private housing on large City-owned land.
O’Devaney Gardens and St Michael’s Estate are also part of the plan. The councilors agreed to rebuild these council-owned lands in January 2017.
St Michael’s Estate in Inchicore has been designated for the City of Dublin’s first cost rental project for low and middle income workers.
Councilors last year ratified a last-minute deal with Bartra to rebuild O’Devaney Gardens.
Following that agreement, attention turned to the Oscar Traynor lands, a development on a 17 hectare site at the junction of Port Tunnel and Oscar Traynor Road.
Many councilors were dissatisfied with the agreement reached at O’Devaney and wanted to ensure that a similarly sized stretch of public land was not turned over to another developer.
The plans on Oscar Traynor Road included 428 homes that Glenveagh would sell privately. Dublin City Council would purchase a total of 253 social housing units and 172 homes would be sold to low- and middle-income workers who qualify for the Government’s next affordable purchasing scheme.
The affordable two-bedroom homes would be priced between 250,000 and 300,000 euros.
Last month, councilors raised a number of concerns regarding the deal with Glenveagh.
Similar to the arguments that were made about O’Devaney Gardens last year, they said that the affordable buy houses on Oscar Traynor Road would not be affordable for low- and middle-income couples.
Under the plan, developer Glenveagh was to pay the Council € 14 million for the land and rebuild it. The Council would then pay Glenveagh to build the social housing units on the site.
Council officials argued that the developer could offer a design standard and amenities that the council could not.
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Councilors also expressed concern that the council would be tied to the price it would pay for social housing units until 2024, with no guarantee that the scheme would not be delayed due to Covid-19, and that it would be left to the developer. how they would dispose of the new homes, which some councilors said could include selling them in bulk to a private investment trust.
Sinn Féin last week issued a circular to all parties and the council administration calling for Oscar Traynor’s lands to be financed in the same way as the St Michael development.
The party called for funds from the central government and the European Investment Bank to develop public housing on the Oscar Traynor site to offer a combination of social rent and cost rent, as well as affordable purchase housing.
Council Housing Chief Brendan Kenny said last night that the houses on Oscar Traynor Road were “much needed” and said Glenveagh had indicated its willingness to sell 50% or more of the private houses to the Council on a cost basis. for rent.
Kenny said it could be eight years before another opportunity to redevelop the land resurfaces and said the Council’s credibility with the developers would be “severely affected” if the Councilors rejected the plan.
In the end, Labor councilors, the Green Party, the Social Democrats, Sinn Féin and the independents were not convinced and said they could not back it.
Instead, they asked the council to rebuild the site itself and called for an emergency meeting with Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien to explore options on how to deliver public housing to the site.
Councilors voted overwhelmingly – 48 to 14 – to reject the plan with Glenveagh.
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