UDC selloff could forfeit Naas £466K+ annually
NAAS, 9 March 2000: EXCLUSIVE by Trish Whelan & Brian Byrne. Naas UDC may have forfeited up to £466,000 a year in potential revenue, by agreeing to sell its Corban's Lane town centre car park (above) to private developers planning to build a 400-plus multi-storey car park, shops and a hotel. The developers stand to clear that amount each year, after paying the council just £25,000 from the parking revenue, as agreed by the two parties in legal documents now being prepared. The payment to the UDC will be adjusted annually by the rate of inflation only.
The UDC currently has some 200 spaces in the car park, at the moment free to motorists, and the alternative to the private development would be for the UDC to build their own multi-storey car park. Given the potential revenue, the authority could have raised a bank loan for the project (as Kildare County Council raised a loan for the new Bond Bridge in Maynooth, to be repaid out of development levies).
The £466,000 figure is based on a calculation of charges for parking by the developer at 30p per hour (ED:a probable average charge over the first few years), for 15 hours a day, seven days a week, and then assuming a 75% occupancy. The developers - McDermott and O’Farrell - have agreed to keep open for public use a minimum of 400 car parking spaces between the hours of 9am and 12pm, Monday to Sunday inclusive.
Even if the annual usage of the car park is just 50% - an unlikley situation given the current severe shortage of car parking in Naas - the council would forfeit earnings of potentially over £302,000 a year by allowing the private development.
The £25,000 a year, over the period of a 999-year lease, is in addition to a £142,000 payment for 10 years, representing the capital payment being made by the developers to the UDC for the Corban’s Lane site. This has been regarded by many as a ‘selling of the family jewels’ for a quick gain by the council.
Meanwhile, there seems to be a question as to whether the developer can actually provide the number of car parking spaces required by the UDC under the Naas Development Plan, as the council has incorporated a planning condition that would allow for a ‘car parking levy’ to be charged if this number cannot be provided. This seems at odds with the section where the developers ‘covenant’ to keep 400 spaces for public use. (And there is some question as to whether planning conditions can be incorporated in a long-term lease agreement in advance of a planning application.)
The Corban’s Lane development is one of two proposals for the UDC to effectively sell its car parks to private developers - the second is on the Sallins Road. Naas town clerk Declan Kirrane told KNN that no contract has yet been signed between the UDC and the developers, and no planning application has yet been lodged in respect of the development. “Discussions between the legal representatives of both sides are currently taking place.”
Naas UDC chairman Seamie Moore (right) confirmed yesterday that the carpark in St Corban's will be operated by the developers, who will set the charges and keep the revenue taken. But he said it will be part of the agreement that the developers charges 'will relate to' those being set by the UDC for their own onstreet carparking plan this year.
NOTE: On-street car parking in Dublin is currently 80p per hour, while private car parks are charging upwards of £1.60 per hour. Private car parks in Naas are currently charging 50p per hour.
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