Council to vote on dezoning city farm lands

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors will this evening be asked to vote in favour of "dezoning" about five acres of residential development land at Airfield, an urban farm near Dundrum in south Dublin.

The 2.2 hectares (5½ acres) border the Luas line and are near the Dundrum Town Centre.

A motion to alter the zoning to open space has been tabled by a cross-party group of councillors in an effort to protect the farm from development pressure.

In addition councillors will next month attempt to prevent the council management acquiring some of the land for a road scheme, a proposed 1.7km Sandyford-Dundrum link road.

Acting county manager and director of transportation Éamonn O'Hare had said he could build the planned road as a "protected road scheme" which would ensure no access could be built from the road to Airfield estate, but councillors rejected that approach. The issue will be debated at the full council meeting in February.

Although the road and the zoning of the land are separate issues, according to Fianna Fáil councillor Gerry Horkan they are symptomatic of the kind of development pressure facing the 14-hectare (35-acre) Airfield estate.

Mr Horkan will this evening ask his colleagues to back a motion tabled under section 140 of the Local Government Act, requiring the county manager to vary the development plan in respect of the Airfield zoning.

Mr Horkan said last night that Airfield lands would be under intense pressure if the road went ahead and the land was not dezoned. Estimating the value of the lands, Mr Horkan said several million euro an acre would not be an outlandish price to expect. "If these lands were to come into the hands of a developer a strong case could be made for large-scale development."

A previous attempt in early 2004 was defeated on procedural grounds.

Part of the difficulty is the council housing strategy which would be affected by the move. Councillors backing the proposal have suggested that another parcel of land at Glenamuck be zoned residential, in order to preserve the amount of zoned land in the strategy.

Last night Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Pat Hand (Fine Gael) said he believed that "this time the motion will be in order".