An Bord Pleanala has rejected an appeal aiming to secure an expansion to a planned hotel in the west end.
Carroll’s Inn were refused permission for an expansion to the fourth floor of a hotel on Dominick Street which has yet to be constructed.
Carroll’s on Dominick street, well known for its beer garden and the popular Crust Bucket pizza restaurant that runs out of an old bus in the beer garden, is leading this project.
Galway City Council granted planning permission last year to demolish a building at the back of no. 39 Dominick street and build a 46 bedroom hotel with a pub and restaurant.
The project also involves renovations to 39, and 41 – 43 Dominick street which are protected structures.
However a later application was made by Carroll’s for a fourth floor extension to the hotel which would have added nine additional bedrooms and a lounge area to the rear of the building.
That application was rejected by Galway city council in January, saying that its “additional height, scale, bulk and extent over and above the development approved” was an overdevelopment of the site.
The council also said that it would detract from the character of the the Architectural Conservation Area of lower Dominick Street.
Carroll’s appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála saying that the proposal was for a “modest” extension to the hotel plans which would only be visible from the rear of the site, and wouldn’t affect the Dominick Street streetscape.
It was added that the hotel will be a “positive addition to the greater Dominick Street area”, which was designed to limit its impact on the neighbouring protected structures.
In upholding the decision to reject the expansion An Bord Pleanála said that it would be “highly obtrusive, would be a visually incongruous feature at this location, detract from the architectural heritage, would seriously injure the visual amenities of the area and fails to adequately respond to its context or integrate successfully with the immediate and surrounding built environment.”
The higher planning authority added that granting permission would set an “undesirable precedent” for similar developments in the area.
