Minutes of meeting at offices of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday 7th February 2007.

Attendance:

  • Bill Tosh, CEO (Dundalk Chamber of Commerce)
  • Ollan Herr (Dundalk Cycling Alliance)
  • Vincent McDonald (Dundalk Cycling Alliance)
  • Tom Quigley (Landowner)
  • Aidan Kinsella (Landowner)
  • Seamus Fitzpatrick (Landowner)
  • Simon Ward (Architect)
  • Elizabeth Conway (Landowner)
  • John Conway (Landowner)
  • Tomás Sharkey (Sinn Fein Group)
  • Noel Lennon (Fianna Fáil Group)
  • Seamus Keelan (Fianna Fáil Group)
  • Eamon O’ Boyle (Fine Gael/Green Group)
  • Jim Ryan (Independents Group)

Minutes:

Arising from a video presentation outlining the commercial and social advantages of a riverside linear park / cycle lane from DCA, which was delivered by Ollan Herr, and subsequent wide-ranging discussion, it was resolved that Bill Tosh and Ollan Herr would consult with the 5 landowners and the Dundalk Town Council’s town clerk, town planner and town engineer to fully “flesh-out” the proposal Local Area Plan (LAP) which had been outlined to the meeting by the DCA and bring it before the full Dundalk Town Council.; This would involve, among other things:

  • Identifying where developmental access problems existed and designing solutions to them.  This would include elements such as designing and constructing roads which complied with the relevant standards of traffic capacity and safety.
  • Ensuring that the 20 metre waterfront strip, which would have, under previously operated planning and development practice, passed into public ownership, but is now destined to remain private property, does, in fact, become part of the public open space requirement of the Saltown Estate (and any other riverside estate), upon the completion of such developments.
  • Ensuring that, in any variation to the Dundalk and Environs Development Plan 2003/2009 involving varying the “open space” designation to “residential” designation, that the existing ratio/proportion of open space availability in the LAP area under consideration (Big Bridge to Toberona Bridge) will be carefully considered. This is to be done against the background of the proper and sustainable development of the area, similarly as in the Dundalk South West Local Area Plan (DSWLAP) where a decision was made to rezone over 20 acres at Sidella from “public open space” to “premature residential, pending the provision of main sewer”. Dundalk Town Council took this variation decision some months ago.