Palatine Square Matters – April 2019

LIFFEY CYCLE ROUTE – Revised proposal published
The National Transport Authority and Dublin City Council jointly published a revised proposal to develop the Liffey Cycle Route at a Special meeting of the Council’s Transportation Strategic Policy Committee last week. What has been published is, in my view, unquantifiably better than the eight previous iterations of the scheme brought forward since 2012. There are a number of substantial changes in this proposal compared to those previously presented and they include:
• No redirection of vehicular traffic through Montpelier Hill, Arbour Hill, Stoneybatter and North King Street.
• The provision of new board-walks along the quays to enable segregated cycle lanes either side of the quays.
The scheme is broken up into four sections:
1. Phoenix Park – Fr. Mathews Bridge
2. Fr. Mathews Bridge to O’Connell Street
3. O’Connell Street to Matt Talbot Memorial Bridge
4. Dublin Docklands.
An initial consultation programme will take start later this month and will continue for a number of weeks. When I have the precise details of that consultation scheme, I will circulate the details locally and make them available on my website at http://www.RayMcAdam.com. As your LOCAL Councillor, I will now support this scheme and as Leader of the Fine Gael Group on Dublin City Council, will work to secure the support of my colleagues and if re-elected on May 24th, seek to implement this revised proposal. If you would like more information on the revised proposal for the Liffey Cycle Route, please email me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com and I will share that information with you.

STANLEY STREET FIRE DEPOT LANDS – REDEVELOPMENT UPDATE
When I called to homes across Stoneybatter in recent weeks, numerous householders sought an update on the possible redevelopment of the Stanley Street Fire Depot site by Dublin City Council. In order to better inform householders, I sought an update from the Chief Executive as to:
• Whether the Council had yet undertake the preparation of site specific master plan?
• The number of homes that may be delivered and
• A timeline for the completion of the entire redevelopment project.
Officials have since responded to my enquiries, advising that:
• These lands are currently zoned Z5, which is a mixed use zoning status on lands which comprises an area of 1.15 hectares.
• The Council is now seeking to advance a redevelopment of mixed tenure housing.
• A commercial component is also being envisaged by the Council in line with the Z5 zoning status.
• While the City Council indicated previously that 270 homes would be provided, no such figure has been provided in the latest update I sought.
• Site specific development briefs will be prepared from May 2019 onwards.
I hope this information is of assistance to you. However, if you require any additional information or further clarification, please come back to me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com and I will endeavour to secure those details for you.

ARBOUR HILL TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT – update
Construction work will start later this April to deliver the Arbour Hill Traffic Improvement Scheme. Outstanding work will finalised in the coming days to approve the final design of the scheme. The Council’s Conservation Architects are involved at present to ensure what is approved complies with relevant statutory plans like the Dublin City Development Plan 2016 – 2022. Officials have provided me with indicative drawings of how the final scheme may look. If you would like a copy of those plans, please email me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com. I met officials and engineers in the area last week and they expect all works to be completed by the end of May.

NORTH INNER CITY COMMUNITY POLICING PLAN 2019
The Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee at its meeting on March 25th last formally adopted the North Inner City Community Policing Plan 2019. The Plan sets out the core community policing commitments and objectives for the year ahead and is based on the community issues that have arisen in 2018. It is also linked with the actions identified in the Mulvey Report. As Chair of the Dublin Central Joint Policing Committee, I have worked with senior Garda management locally as well as the Community Policing teams in the Bridewell, Store Street and the Mountjoy / Fitzgibbon Street districts to ensure that as resources grow, we utilize the fullest extent to keep communities of the North Inner City safe and secure. A key element of this plan is the retention of the ‘small areas policing’ initiative to provide the highest level possible community policing service to residents, householders and businesses across the North Inner City. Garda resources have been increased over the last number of years as a result of greater investment by our Fine Gael-led Government. This has resulted in the total Garda numbers for the North Inner City currently standing at 743. Some of the key objectives in this new Community Policing Plan, include:
• Build a proactive and prioritized community policing ethos and service in the North Inner City where every Garda, civil servant and reserve member regardless of their rank or grade, considers service to the community a core function.
• Enhance, promote and develop the community policing service through the Small Areas initiative to everyone in the community.
• Address anti-social behaviour and quality of life issues in our public parks particularly in the summer.
• Increase the level of interaction between Community Gardaí and young people on the street.
• Work with youth projects and services to develop a multi-agency approach to facilitate a supportive route out of crime for young people.
• Use pre-emptive, intelligence-led operations, including hot spot and high visibility patrolling to address drug related issues and quality of life issues in the North Inner City.
If you have any questions or queries arising from the details of the new Community Policing Plan for the North Inner City, please get in touch with me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com.

KEEPING YOU UPDATED ON O’DEVANEY GARDENS PROJECT
As your LOCAL Stoneybatter City Councillor and a Chair of the O’Devaney Gardens Community Consultative Forum, I want to make sure you are fully up to date of how the O’Devaney Gardens redevelopment project is being advanced. So, my update comes in two parts. Firstly, how things are progressing with the ongoing building work on site and plans associated with that. Secondly, how the remaining, approximately 640 new homes, will be delivered and the means upon which that is advanced.
1. ONGOING BUILDING WORK
Construction of the first 56 public homes is progressing well; however, there has been a slight delay, per the schedule agreed between Dublin City Council and the contractor. Despite this, completion of the first aspect of building works on site is expected to be delivered in early 2020.

The existing road through O’Devaney Gardens will have to be reconfigured. Dublin City Council has advised that it expects the reconfigured road layout will be in place by the end of April 2019.

2. HOW THE REMAINING 640 HOMES WILL BE DELIVERED?
In January 2017, City Councillors agreed to the redevelopment of the O’Devaney Gardens lands along 50:30:20 housing division. 50% would be owner-occupier, 30% public housing with the remaining 20% a mix of affordable purchase and affordable rental. Delivering these new homes would be undertaken through the implementation of a Development Agreement between a Contractor and Dublin City Council. So, what is the timeline for the reaching of such a Development Agreement?

A newly designed procurement process to select a preferred Contractor is nearing completion as it is anticipated that the Development Agreement with that preferred contractor will be in place by early June. The contents of that Development Agreement will then be presented to the new City Council elected in May’s Local Elections to be assessed for compliance with the January 2017 decision.

Upon the reaching of a Development Agreement, the preferred contractor will then have NO MORE THAN 6 months to apply for planning permission. After permission has been granted, the preferred contractor will have to begin works on site within ONE MONTH of that permission being approved. Given the number of new homes to be built, it is expected that it will take a number of years to complete the full redevelopment of O’Devaney Gardens.

3. MORE INFORMATION
If you have any questions or queries arising from the details provided, please get in touch with me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com and I will endeavour to answer those enquiries as best I can.

FUNDING INCREASED FOR HOUSING ADAPTATION GRANTS
€8,456,552 has been made available by our Fine Gael-led Government to support home adaptations for older people and those with disability and mobility issues, locally. The funding, which has been increased by more than 12%, will enable older people and people with disabilities to remain living independently in their own homes for longer and will also facilitate early return from hospital. Grants of up to €30,000 are available to assist people with a disability in carrying out necessary works to make a house more suitable for their needs, up to €8,000 to assist older people living in poor housing conditions to have necessary repairs or improvements carried out and up to €6,000 for mobility aids to address mobility problems for a member of the household. If you want or need any application form for any of these grants, please contact me at RayMcAdam@gmail.com.