NAAS, 21 July 2002: by Brian Byrne. A deal with developers to sell the Naas Town Council car park at Corban's Lane now lies under a threat of the council exiting from the deal unless a planning application is made for the property by September.
The council and the developers - McDermott and O’Farrell - have already signed a Heads of Agreement for a 999-year lease at a yearly payment of £25,000 a year and 10 annual payments of £142,000. The developers proposed to put a multi-stirey car park, a hotel and retail developments on the site and adjacent properties which they had acquired.
But at last week's July Town Council meeting, Cllr Seamie Moore moved a motion that the council dissolve that agreement and put up the property for sale again. Cllr Moore noted that the deal had been under discussion for five years and it was a 'disgraceful' situation.
"It's crazy that we have stood on our heads to make sure these developers got a good deal and the deal is not yet in place," he said. "I know that there are a lot of other people now interested in the site, and we should put these developers aside."
The original deal has been regarded by some councillors as a ‘selling of the family jewels’ for a quick gain by the council. Among them was Cllr Pat McCarthy, who said last week that 'the sooner we get out of the deal, the better'.
Cllr Anthony Egan said the council had 'made a mistake' by putting itself into a position with a developer who could 'sit on' an asset and watch it appreciate 'without putting any investment into it'.
Cllr Charlie Byrne recalled that he had been the one to propose the original sale and was now 'suffering the embarrassment'. He also noted that the last time the council threatened to 'take the property off the developers', they had been in the next week, 'making their legal threats'.
Cllr Eibhlin Bracken said the council should take the property back and build the multi-storey car park themselves. "We have the money," she added.
But Cllr Pat O'Reilly said he couldn't agree to that: "We just couldn't afford it," he said.
Cllr Willie Callaghan said the councillors 'could not blame' the developers for any lack of action before September of last year, as they didn't even have the contract documents in hand before then. He suggested that they be asked to submit a planning application on the property. "If they have not done that by September, then we should call them in," he said.
Town manager Tommy Skehan said that the developers had a similar project proposed for Claregate St in Kildare, and that much of the delay had been in the finalising of conditions which would 'protect the council' in the case of the 'failure of the developer'. He said this had been done for the Kildare project and he was urging that similar conditions be made in the case of the Naas project.
Ealier, acting town clerk Fiona O'Neill had told the councillors that it would be 'legally difficult' for the council to 'back out of the agreement' and such action could lead to court action.
But Cllr Moore said he 'doubted very much' if the council's solicitors would have 'tied us up in such a weak way'. He said he would bring the matter back in September, and he asked that the council get advice from its solicitor 'as to whether we can get out of the agreement or not'.
Relevant previous stories:
UDC selloff could forfeit Naas £466K+ annually;
Paid parking in Naas again deferred;
Fair Green parking plan would be 'act of vandalism'
