Integration of/reaction to former concerns into overall plan - Cahersiveen Town Centre Regeneration Project

Cahersiveen Public Realm Enhancement - referring to chapter 3.2.1.5.1 Cahersiveen Town Centre Regeneration Project

To Whom it concerns

We reviewed the proposed plans “Cahersiveen Public Realm Enhancement“ and strongly object to the plan and want to make sure, our concerns meet the overall LOCAL AREA PLAN with regard to Cahersiveen, especially:

1. No on-street parking on main street, but enhance parking lot 
2. Integration of Main Street into “Cahersiveen Town Centre Regeneration Project“ (Fig. 3.8)
3. No removal of zebra crossing

Referring to parking plans – one of the latest studies confirms: “Results of a spatial regression indicate that public transport stops, pedestrian zones, and public parking garages nearby increase the attractiveness of retail locations. On the contrary, much on-street parking capacity in the immediate vicinity reduces retail rents. However, sufficient parking capacity should be accessible within a comfortable walking distance. This finding supports the approach of reducing on-street parking in city centres while concentrating stationary car traffic in multi-storey car parks.“ (see attachment)

Regards
Prof. Ute Röseler
Hajo Pirenz

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FYI Submission from 30 May 2023

We reviewed the proposed plans “Cahersiveen Public Realm Enhancement“ and strongly object to the plan.

01 Business situation of Dan’s Gallery

• With the opening of Dan's Gallery in April 2020, we have invested heavily.
• The gallery is an enrichment of the cityscape, an expansion of the cultural offerings.
• Especially for a gallery, visual access via the shop windows is imperative. Our gallery and its shop windows form a visual and actual communicative anchor for locals and tourists.
• Visual access to the windows and our offer must not be blocked by parked cars.
• The location of the shop space was decisive for renting the shop on the basis of the parking ban in front of the gallery.

02 Relocation of the zebra crossing

We object to relocate the zebra crossing for following reasons:

The zebra crossing:

• links the car park to the Main Street and brings sustainable business
• ties all business/shops together
• slows down the traffic

If the crossing is taken away:

• all pedestrian traffic and the business focus is lead to Church Street and not to Main Street or West Main Street
• Main Street and West Main Street will be cut off from business
• crossing the street – especially through parked cars – gets more dangerous

There is no “enchantment“ of the road as named on page 6 of PDF file for Main Street.

03 Optimisation of the city centre

The ultimate goal of planning should be to improve the overall city centre of Cahersiveen. This does not apply to the current planning for the following reasons:

• The city centre should be decongested in terms of traffic, and parking spaces outside the city centre should be expanded, not the other way round.
• On-street parking tempts many motorists to leave the engine running while shopping. This does not happen while parking on the big car park.
• Planning is not balanced and worsens the situation: The wider and more open street area from Church Street will be further optimised and expanded, the narrower part to Main Street and West Main Street will be converted into a car park.
• Urban planning should include the optimisation of all urban areas and not create imbalances or worsen existing weaknesses. The plan MUST include an optimization for Main Street and West Main Street as well.

Spending the provided 20 Million Euro should enhance the whole town and not cut off business of the Main Street.

Spend money on:

• better sidewalks
• better road conditions
• better signage pointing towards the big car park

Overall: The current layout of Main Street is far better than the proposed plans.

The new plans are severely worsen the situation for businesses and local residents. Why do the planners want to cut off Main Street and West Main Street?

04 Trees

The road side where the trees are planned is already the shaded side of the Main Street. This side already gets little light during day time and it is hard to see whether shops are open or not as well as shops live from window visibility. The trees will even enhance this situation.