Eoin English has an article about Ken Mahon’s proposed development on Bishopscourt Green. Ken Mahon defends his current application stating that last year he only applied for four houses and that was turned down even though he was going to “gift” 60% of the Green to the Council. It is easy to make such philanthropic statements after your original application was turned down. Oral pledges are meaningless.

Ken Mahon states that his development will be an “anti-car” development. One can interpret this as meaning he wishes not to incur the expense of building an adequately sized underground car park.

The problem with “anti-car” developments is that in Ireland, where public transport is inadequate, people rely on their cars. Everyone knows that. Developers who rely on “transport links” to avoid building adequate car parking cause huge parking problems in surrounding areas. This problem has been seen time and time again in apartment developments throughout Ireland. Bishopscourt is already treated as a car park during office hours by people working in Bishopstown and Wilton. What will it be like if there is an apartment development with forty four households, many of which will have two, or three cars.

Ken Mahon states that he is “proud” of his plans. Proud to chop down trees. Proud to rid Bishopscourt of green space. Proud to develop with no consideration of scale or impact on surrounding houses.

This is a rough approximation and impression of the development Ken Mahon has planned for the Green. It is intentionally crude. No architectural drawing packages could soften the impact of this development.

The two large rectangular blocks are the apartment blocks.
The black rectangle with black lines is the entrance off Bishopscourt Drive into the underground car park.
The black line is the boundary line of the two meter and fifty centimeters (2.5m) high wall.
The diagonal pathways (yellow lines) that criss-cross the green will be completely cut off.
The central area of the apartments will be closed to the general public.
Anyone getting off at the bus stop will have to walk around the walled community.

The proposed two and a half meter walls are completely new in the Bishopstown area.
No other development has such high walls or deems itself in need of such protection.

A very small strip at the end of the green will be left as open space, the area with the highest concentratinon of trees, although most of those trees are marked for removal.

The removal of the trees may be in the plans so as to maximise the impact of this proposed development on the residents of Bishopscourt Drive, Bishopscourt Green and Bishopscourt Park. In an era where trees are being planted for their amenity value more than ever before, Ken Mahon seeks to remove them.

Ken Mahon has said in an interview with the Evening Echo that his original application for a development of four houses was “not financially rewarding”.

This is an interesting perspective on what could be deemed to be financially rewarding. For some, who hold savings accounts in banks, interest rate returns of 5.5% CAR are financially rewarding.

If he knew to begin with that his need for financial rewards could not be met with development of four houses, we have to wonder why he went to all the trouble of making his first application. Why did he not just put his money into a bank account, rather than spending it on a derelict house at the top of a Green. A speculative house and land purchase, one where no planning permission to build anything existed. No one asked Ken Mahon to gamble that this land, maintained by the residents of Bishopscourt for over forty years, might be successfully built on. He chose to take that gamble.

What sort of financial return is he seeking? A 100% financial return, a 200% financial return? We will never know.

Justifying his application for a larger development, with the argument that his initial application was “not financially rewarding” contradicts what he wrote last year.

Ken Mahon told us last year that he would put the lands up for sale if his application was denied. Why has he changed his mind? He told us all last year of his affinity for the area. He told us the price was not as high as he expected. He told us that a small development would give him a “reasonable” return. Is he now seeking what some of us who are happy with interest rates offered by banks, would consider to be a “greedy” return?

This is what he wrote:

Eventually, I was invited to a private auction for the lands. I am a businessman, but I also feel an affinety for the area. I did not feel optimistic going into the auction,as I felt that the closing price would be such that only a major development would Justify the price. However, the lands became available at a price where I felt that a reasonable development could be carried out which would allow for a fair return for my endevour, and to allow for a considerable public open space.

However, I want to repeat that I only purchased the lands at a level that I felt comfortable with in relation to a reasonable development, and that if ultimatly if I am not successfull in the planning process, then I will offer the lands up for sale again.

Should Mr. Ken Mahon stick by his own word? He was unsuccessful in his planning application last year. Will he offer the lands up for sale again? That is what he said he would do, on this very website.

A new threat is looming over a city green which was saved from development earlier this year. Residents living around Bishopscourt Green in Cork’s western suburbs are now facing a fresh battle following a second planning application for the site. The same developer who failed earlier this year to get outline planning permission for four houses on the 1.6 acre site has now sought outline permission for 44 apartments and an underground car park on the same site.

Mr. Mahon bought the site last year as part of a house sale. Title to the house, located on the edge of the green, included title to the green which has been used as a public open space since the mid 1960s. He sought to develop four houses on the site which would have resulted in the loss of almost half the green.

Shocked local residents launched the Keep Bistopscourt Green Campaign. They lobbied local politicians and mounted high-profile events to raise public awareness about an issue they said could affect green spaces not just in Cork, but nationwide.

An unprecedented 95 submissions objecting to Mr. Mahon’s project were received.

Planners ruled in Jonuary that the location of the proposed development was within an area designated as an open space in the original planning application for Bishopscourt estate in 1965. Planners also said the city development plan states there will be a presumption against development of public open spaces.

The residents’ campaign prompted city councillors to amend the city development plan to protect all of the citys open green spaces from development.

However, a new planning notice has been erected on the green expressing Mr. Mahon’s intention to seek outline planinng permission for 44 apartments in two blocks and an underground car park.
A resident’s spokesman said they will fight this application again.

“While we have not seen the detail of this latest application, it would seem to be completely out of keeping with the character of the area” he said.

They are being supported by the lobby group Communities for Sustainable Development.

By Eoin English of the Irish Examiner.

Ken Mahon requested that we take down the drawing of the green. We have done this. The only part of the green that will remain unaffected by his proposed development is the bottom triangle of the green shaded in grey. On the other sections of the green, there will be two rectangular apartment buildings, one on the west side and one on the east side. They will be situated as close to the edge of the green as possible, so as to maximise their impact on the houses overlooking the green. The houses on Bishopscourt Drive and Bishopscourt Green will face two or three storeys of an apartment development, should this development be granted permission and go ahead. The drawings that we have seen indicate that most of the trees on the green are to be removed, including the magnificent oak tree at the top of the green. Mighty the man who can, with a clear conscience, cut down a tree that is over one hundred years old.

This image show the development Ken Mahon is seeking premission for on the Green. He is seeking to cut off access across the green. The diagonal pathways will be gone. The black line shows the footprint of the two apartment buildings.The old oak tree at the top of the Green next to the bus stop is to be cut down. Most of the trees planted on the Green will be removed and in their place will be apartment developments completely out of scale and character to anything else in either lower or upper Bishopscourt. This development would completely change the face of Bishopscourt. There will be no open space. A development of this size would have an enormous impact. Modern day developments rarely have adequate parking for residents so the rest of Bishopscourt would become a car park for this developement.

Knowing that Ken Mahon knows that the City Development Plan has been amended to protect this Green (along with all other green open spaces in housing estates throughout the city), one can only wonder what he is really planning or hoping to build on the site of the existing house, should this application be denied. The existing house, as previously mentioned, has a footprint of one hundred and fifteen square meters.

The outline planning application submitted by Ken Mahon is now available on the Cork City Planning Enquiry database.

The application number is 08/33107.

Objections to this application should be submitted in writing to:

Planning and Development Directorate,
Cork City Council, City Hall,
Cork, Ireland.

A fee of twenty euro is applicable to objections. All objections must be received within five weeks of the date of receipt. The date of receipt is the 14th of May 2008. All objections must be submitted by the 18th June 2008.

Under sustainable development guidelines viewable on Cork City Council’s website, apartments have minimum size standards.

One bedroomed apartments must be 45 square meters.
Two bedroomed apartments must be 65 square meters.

A common practice is for 10 to 15 per cent of developments to be one bedroomed apartments.

If we follow the minimum size guidelines and the ten to fifteen per cent rule, then the total floor space for apartments can be approximated as follows:

15 per cent of 44 apartments gives 6.6 one bedroomed apartments which we round down to 6 one bedroomed apartments and 38 two bedroomed apartments.

6 multiplied by 45 square meters and 38 multiplied by 65 square meters gives a total apartment floor space for 44 apartments of 2,740 square meters.

Ken Mahon stated in his planning notice that the apartments would be in two buildings, one is to be two storey and the otheris to be three storey.

Two fifths of the 2,740 square meter total amounts to 1,096 square meters or 548 square meters per storey. Three fifths of the square meter total amounts to 1,644 square meters, again 548 square meters per storey.

To house Ken Mahon’s apartments, a total footprint of 1,096 square meters would be required assuming all floors are equal sizes. This does not make any allowance for common areas, fire escapes etc, so these are minimum figures. They are also hypothetical, as we have not yet seen the proposed development plans.

Ken Mahon’s development would at a minimum occupy 16.9 per cent of the green, which is very nearly ten times the footprint of the existing house. This calculation makes no allowance for common areas in apartment blocks as previously mentioned. It makes no provision for three bedroomed apartments, which would make the required footprint even larger. There is no provision for an entrance to an underground car park, or the gardens mentioned in the application, which would require even more of the Green to be given over to this development.

Ken Mahon has asserted that he has required zoning for a development of forty four apartments on Bishopstown Green. He is seeking to demolish a house with a footprint 55.25 square meters and a yard of 59.5 square meters. The total area occupied by the house and its yard is approximately 115 square meters, or 1.7% of the Green

An article from yesterday’s Evening Echo outlines Ken Mahon’s position.

My lands are zoned Resedential, Community and Local services in the 2004 Cork Development Plan.

The variation (number five) to the City Development Plan that was adopted last year seeks to protect green spaces and states:

That all open space in residential estates in the city along with any green area that formed part of a planning permission and was identified for the purposes of recreation/amenity/open space is deemed to be zoned as “Public Open Space” to protect and provide for land for recreation, open space and amenity purposes.

Ken Mahon has made his application for forty four apartments and an underground car park after the adoption of this variation by Cork City Council. As he has quoted the 2004 City Development Plan, we can only assume that he had full knowledge of its adopted variations when he made his application for the development of two buildings, forty four apartments and an underground car park.