Re: Re: Limerick Boat Club ~ Wellesley Pier ~ Poor Man’s Kilkee ~ Sarsfield Bridge

7th June 2008
@justnotbothered wrote:

Originally Posted by Tuborg
Two items that came up for discussion at last weeks City Council meeeting. It looks like the proposal to redevelop the Limerick boat club site could be dead in the water! Sorry! For the development to go ahead, the boat club would have to be removed from the list of protected structures and the site re-zoned, which would require the support of a majority of City Councillors

Which, ultimately, would be good news for the city. Have never seen such a ill-fitting design.

7th June 2008
@Dreamstate wrote:

Originally Posted by justnotbothered
Which, ultimately, would be good news for the city. Have never seen such a ill-fitting design.

Councillors .mmmmmh . . . . I’m sure that they’ll do the right thing architecturally . .

7th June 2008
@justnotbothered wrote:

Originally Posted by Dreamstate
Councillors .mmmmmh . . . . I’m sure that they’ll do the right thing architecturally . .

Well doing nothing with that site is better than what’s being proposed. The proposed Boatclub design is hideous, absolutely hideous. If that’s the best that architects can currently envisage, i suggest we shoot one on every 10 of them until they get the notion of not building cheap rubbish everywhere.

8th June 2008
@CologneMike wrote:

Boatclub (Limerick Leader) Published Date: 06 June 2008

By Anne Sheridan

THE DEVELOPER behind the plans to demolish and redevelop Limerick Boat Club said he is still hopeful that his €20million “dream” development could receive planning permission, even though nine councillors have voiced their opposition.

To receive the green-light, a majority of the 17 city councillors have to vote in favour of a material contravention to rezone the site and also remove the Boat Club from the list of protected structures.

But the president of Limerick Boat Club, Dermot Moloney, is asking councillors and the public to look at the bigger picture and said the proposal put forward by Michael Daly of Fordmount Developments represents a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for their club.

“I genuinely would be worried for the club if this doesn’t go ahead. This was the first rowing club in Limerick, and even from that perspective it would be a shame to see it go. It could be the end of the club as we know it,” said Mr Moloney.

Mr Daly had previously said he would walk away from the plans if the majority of councillors were against the designs, but he now believes that councillors may not be as outrightly opposed as they have stated in public.

When the Limerick Leader exclusively revealed the plans for the site off Sarsfield Bridge, Mr Daly said: “I really hope people will look at these plans and say ‘That’s fantastic.’ That’s the reaction I want to get. If they don’t want it, we’ll forget about it. It’s now a question of whether the city wants this building or not.”

Councillors across the political spectrum are divided about the plans, with Labour Cllr Gerry McLoughlin stating the proposed development could establish a “state-of-the-art boat club,” as well as “a fabulous commercial enterprise” and “bring Limerick into the 21st century.”

Among those opposing the plans is Independent Cllr John Gilligan described the development as “crass”, “commercial”, “an appalling structure” and said it is “a cheap answer to interfere with one of the most beautiful bridges in Ireland.”