Tralee residents are to seek a judicial review of a decision by the town council to build up to 131 social and affordable houses in a greenfield area.
The proposed development is near the River Lee at Ballyard alongside the Tralee to Dingle road near the Aquadome and the Blennerville steam railway.
A spokesman for local residents, Eddie Barrett, claimed yesterday the decision went against the town's own policy which was not to concentrate large-scale social housing development into one area and to limit the numbers to under 50 houses.
He also claimed some of the housing would be within 100m of a town dump and would interfere with important floodlands of the River Lee because acres of ground would be concreted over.
These details would form part of the High Court judicial review being sought by residents, Mr Barrett said. When first put forward in 2003, the development was to be for mixed use and was to include a school and health centre, but these developments were now not included.
Instead, the proposal was for large-scale housing, Mr Barrett said. On the 34-acre site, there are to be 36 private affordable houses and eight units for St John of God's as well as a community centre, creche, playing fields, a basketball court and shop together with 85 social houses.
A proposal to scale down the number of houses was defeated at this week's meeting of Tralee town council. The decision to proceed with the larger-scale development has prompted furious debate and councillors, as well as some commentators, have publicly accused the Ballyard residents of acting out of snobbery.
Mr Barrett yesterday rejected this claim. "Snobs is a new racist term in Tralee. It is a means of silencing us. We are not against social housing. We are simply against the scale of this development."
Town engineer Gerry Riordan said the town plan allowed for a housing density of 12 to the acre, and it would be 10.5 in this development.