Planning application for museum in Ardmore refused by council

Waterford City & County Council has refused a planning application to build the  facility on site on the village’s northern periphery

Waterford City & County Council feared that the proposed development would seriously detract from visual and residential amenities on an important approach to the seaside village.

Waterford City & County Council has refused a planning application to build a museum at Ardmore village in County Waterford.

The application by ‘Ardmore Institute of Arts Edward McAree and Amanda Garcia’, sought to build the two-storey facility on a 1.11 hectare site on the village’s northern periphery, close to Ardmore GAA club.

Comprising a 2,679sq m ground floor exhibition area, plus car park and ancillary works, the building would showcase hundreds of artefacts amassed by the applicants over several decades.

The application also proposed employing up to 25 people at the museum.

Refusing the application, the council referenced five areas of concern all of which had been referenced across the two only submissions received during the public consultation process.

The authority feared that the proposed development would seriously detract from visual and residential amenities on an important approach to the village and that a proposed additional access to the site would present a traffic hazard arising from inadequate sight lines.

Aligned to that, the council also outlined the application’s failure to demonstrate the nature of traffic and traffic volumes.

Impact on residential amenities

The council further found that the applicants had failed to reassure that the siting and scale of the development would not impact negatively on adjoining residential amenities.

Neither was the planning authority satisfied that the development would be adequately served by the public water supply and sewer and feared that it might impact negatively on the servicing of adjoining developments or those in the wider vicinity.

The council also held concerns in regard to site drainage, surface water management and disposal of surface waters amidst fears that uncontrolled run-off might affect the wider area.

A retired American finance investor, Mr McAree and Ms Garcia are regularly seen in Ardmore since acquiring the village’s former coastguard station over a decade ago.

The McAree family also donated a new science room to the local primary school in 2019.

Efforts to contact the applicants for comment proved unsuccessful.