'Historic' area may be rezoned
Proposed rezoning of New Street in Waterford at odds with city development plan. By Emma Browne
The Waterford City Manager has recommended a rezoning in Waterford city centre of a residential street for commercial use. The rezoning motion has met with strong opposition locally from both residential and commercial interests and is totally at odds with the current city development plan.
The Waterford City Council (WCC) are to vote on the rezoning of New Street from residential to commercial use, and a section of Wyse Park from open space to commercial use, on 6 June. In a recent report by the City Manager he recommended the New Street rezoning, but also recommended that Wyse Park be retained as open space. It is unlikely that WCC will vote for the Wyse Park rezoning after this recommendation.
The rezoning motion comes on the back of a planning application by KRM developers for the Brewery shopping centre that comprises of 20,000sq m of retail space, 800 car parking spaces, a 110-bedroom hotel, a bowling alley and 28 apartments. Although the original planning application has been sent back to KRM for clarification, WCC are to go ahead with the rezoning motion anyway.
New Street is a residential street with eight houses. The area is considered a historic quarter as it is within the original Norman city walls. Brendan McCann, chairperson of Waterford Alliance for Sustainable Inner City Development, who are campaigning against the zoning, says that it is thought a section of the ancient city wall is under New Street. The archaeological and historical nature of the area has been one of the primary objections to the planning application and the rezoning.
Other objections include the fact that the rezoning seems to be totally at odds with the current city development plan. The development plan aims to protect established residential areas from encroachment by commercial development, to retain the existing street pattern and to encourage retention of existing buildings of character. Waterford Council of Trade Unions is also against the rezoning and has called on councillors to vote against it.