This article is from page 39 of the 2008-10-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 39 JPG
A RELIGIOUS order is bidding to add millions of euro to the value of its property outside Newmarket-on- Fergus by applying to Clare County Council to have 32.5 acres rezoned for housing.
The Sisters of Charity of the In- carnate Word are seeking to have a sizeable portion of their landbank at Carrigoran rezoned for residential use.
The order purchased Carrigoran from the Fitzgerald family in 1925 and since 1974 have operated a 116 bed retirement centre, including a 20
bed dementia unit.
The centre is run on a not-for-profit basis and receives no direct state funding. With the Newmarket-on- Fergus by-pass, the lands at Carrig- oran have been cut in two and the nuns are seeking a large proportion of their lands on the Newmarket side of their landbank to be rezoned.
The submission states that the nuns own 95 acres, including 22 acres of Lough Gash and are seeking that 32.5 acres be rezoned for housing and 40 acres for open space.
The order has employed well- known architects, Murray O’Laoire to lodge a comprehensive submis-
sion which claims that the 72 acres of land on the Newmarket side of the by-pass was zoned for community use without consulting the existing landowner.
The submission states that this was done “apparently at the behest of a third party who had no proprietary interest in the land but who had an interest in developing portion of the lands for community use”
The submission argues that the area zoned for community use is dispro- tortionate to the scale of Newmarket and way beyond planned or projected need. The zoning also places a gross- ly unfair burden on the owner to pro-
vide such a disproportionate area of land for the benefit of community.
Making the case for the rezoning, the submission states that if the land is zoned as residential and open space it will help Newmarket-on-Fergus at- tract the critical mass of population required within the gateway corridor and allow the town grow commer- cially, socially and within a sustain- able framework.”
It is now up to councillors to decide if the lands should be rezoned or not. However, in a blow to the nuns’ pros- pects, council planners have opted to retain the ‘community zoning’ in the draft plan presented to council.