Planning permission is being sought for a housing development in Oranmore consisting of 101 apartments.
Torca Construction Limited has submitted a Strategic Housing Development application to An Bord Pleanála for construction on a 3.4ha site Carrowmoneash, Oranmore, to the north east of the twon centre.
The development would consist of five blocks of apartments, three of which would be three storeys in height, and two of which would be four storeys.
The mix of housing sizes in the development would comprise 8 one-bedroom apartments, 59 two-bedroom units, and 34 three-bedroom units.
The creche would be located in a detached unit with a total floor space of 202sqm, along with an outdoor play area.
The apartment complex will have 133 car parking spaces, and a new access point onto the Carrowmoneash Road will be created.
The five blocks of apartments will be arranged in a U-shape around landscaped green space in the centre of the site.
In order to comply with the Part V requirements of planning law that 10% of residential units be reserved for social or affordable housing, Torca intends to transfer 11 apartments to Galway county council.
A Natura Impact Statement and Ecological Impact Assessment Report have been prepared for this planning application.
A Material Contravention Statement has also been prepared, arguing that the development should be approved despite exceeding the County Development Plan’s population allocation for Oranmore, as well as the housing density objective of the Oranmore Local Area Plan.
An Bord Pleanála is due to make a decision on this planning application by April 19 of next year.
This is one of a significant number of SHD projects which were put to An Bord Pleanála in the final week of the SHD legislation, which has now been replaced.
Under the Strategic Housing Development legislation, created in 2016, developers were able to bypass the local authority for housing projects above a certain size.
While it was meant to fast track housing construction, mostly it just resulted in a massive uptick in judicial reviews being sought, bogging developments down far longer.
