Lough Atalia 100 acres of untapped amenity

Thargor

Interesting thanks.

Private Joker wrote: »

it has massive flood storage which would be lost . galway has bad enough flooding issues without adding to it

Thats not flood storage, its the Atlantic! You could get away with filling it in as long as you ensured the same drainage reached the water unimpeded.

Private Joker

Thargor wrote: »

Interesting thanks.

Thats not flood storage, its the Atlantic! You could get away with filling it in as long as you ensured the same drainage reached the water unimpeded.

Of course its flood storage, all surface water in galway eventually finds its way to the atlantic . lough atalia attenuates the storm water

biko

Googling "flood storage" I found a page that describes it and as I see it LA is just a small bay open to the big bay/Atlantic and thus not flood storage (which is more like a plain along a river that tends to flood).

Private Joker

biko wrote: »

Googling "flood storage" I found a page that describes it and as I see it LA is just a small bay open to the big bay/Atlantic and thus not flood storage (which is more like a plain along a river that tends to flood).

I'd usually agree with you Biko but the fact that its brackish would suggest that it is storm water storage, granted all the water that drains to it could be diverted and pumped out to sea. anyway its a pedantic argument . there are numerous other reasons why it wouldnt and shouldnt happen

noelogara

noelogara wrote: »

The city owns it and would have a hundred acres of prime city centre parkland to rival Stephens Green for the price of farmland.

Are you sure the city owns it?

When the Mutton Island causeway was being developed it was discovered that the Grattan family owned the foreshore (the bit of land between high tide and low tide).
Land has been recovered from the sea in Galway before along Grattan Road, Toft Park, Sea Road. I can't imagine it is cheap.

Thargor

Private Joker wrote: »

I'd usually agree with you Biko but the fact that its brackish would suggest that it is storm water storage, granted all the water that drains to it could be diverted and pumped out to sea. anyway its a pedantic argument . there are numerous other reasons why it wouldnt and shouldnt happen

What are you on about? Its a tiny inlet of the Atlantic, its completely open to the sea, it doesn't store anything, you might as well call all of Galway Bay "Flood Storage".

Private Joker

Thargor wrote: »

What are you on about? Its a tiny inlet of the Atlantic, its completely open to the sea, it doesn't store anything, you might as well call all of Galway Bay "Flood Storage".

It's an estuarine lagoon But I take your point . Flood Storage is probably the wrong phrase for it , although it does play an important drainage role as does galway bay.

noelogara

Deleted User wrote: »

Are you sure the city owns it?

When the Mutton Island causeway was being developed it was discovered that the Grattan family owned the foreshore (the bit of land between high tide and low tide).
Land has been recovered from the sea in Galway before along Grattan Road, Toft Park, Sea Road. I can't imagine it is cheap.

Actually nobody owns it. Its not registered in the land registry to anybody and therefore it is open for anybody to stake a claim but they would have to fence it off adverse to the public and hold it for at least twelve years in order to claim it as private property and thats not likely to happen.
Because it has been open or common for many years due to its useless condition, even if somebody tried to claim it now they would not be able to sustain a claim.
A fleet of lorries would fill the shallow bay in a few months at the rate of an acre per day and all from the local quarries just a mile away.
the few deep spots could be left for water sports and swimming pools. the stone could be topped with gravel and then surfaced with tarmac or turf to make a lovely parkland that would rival Stephens Green.

Robbo

noelogara wrote: »

Actually nobody owns it. Its not registered in the land registry to anybody and therefore it is open for anybody to stake a claim but they would have to fence it off adverse to the public and hold it for at least twelve years in order to claim it as private property and thats not likely to happen.
Because it has been open or common for many years due to its useless condition, even if somebody tried to claim it now they would not be able to sustain a claim.
A fleet of lorries would fill the shallow bay in a few months at the rate of an acre per day and all from the local quarries just a mile away.
the few deep spots could be left for water sports and swimming pools. the stone could be topped with gravel and then surfaced with tarmac or turf to make a lovely parkland that would rival Stephens Green.

Or perhaps a tile showroom?

Cheshire Cat

noelogara wrote: »

Actually nobody owns it. Its not registered in the land registry to anybody and therefore it is open for anybody to stake a claim but they would have to fence it off adverse to the public and hold it for at least twelve years in order to claim it as private property and thats not likely to happen.
Because it has been open or common for many years due to its useless condition, even if somebody tried to claim it now they would not be able to sustain a claim.
A fleet of lorries would fill the shallow bay in a few months at the rate of an acre per day and all from the local quarries just a mile away.
the few deep spots could be left for water sports and swimming pools. the stone could be topped with gravel and then surfaced with tarmac or turf to make a lovely parkland that would rival Stephens Green.

You don't have an interest in any haulage companies or quarries, by any chance?

noelogara

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

You don't have an interest in any haulage companies or quarries, by any chance?

No. The only interest I have is that I have been passing it on my way to the city for years and years and often wondered why such an easily recoverable city site is left untouched especially as Galway is probably the most traffic congested city in the country and is surrounded with stones. Its got narrow street, few car parks and no main street through the centre. The bay would provide thousands of free car and lorry spaces to benefit the city by keeping the shoppers traffic on the edge of the city centre.

Your Face

I wouldn't tap it.

noelogara

Your Face wrote: »

I wouldn't tap it.

ah sorry but I forgot that there would be conflicting interests in my suggestion. I wasnt thinking vested interests but about the overall benefit to alleviate traffic congestion.
No doubt people on the Salthill side of the city wouldnt like to see the city focus shift to the west side swimming pools and parks and the Renmore residents might be miffed with all that traffic on their doorstep. Then the residents bordering the bay would lose their bay view for a big car park and the sound and dust of lorries would upset them.
There's a lot of conflicting interests at stake and people resist change and innovation. In any case its for the Galway people to decide and debate but speaking as an outsider its a no brainer.
A massive free car park on the city's edge, a park to rival Stephens Green, olympic size swimming pools at no cost, three thousand cars relieved from city centre, a relief road to city centre, all built on an ugly backwater that stinks in hot weather and has been an obstacle to avoid since Galway was first inhabited.

ben.schlomo

noelogara wrote: »

ah sorry but I forgot that there would be conflicting interests in my suggestion. I wasnt thinking vested interests but about the overall benefit to alleviate traffic congestion.
No doubt people on the Salthill side of the city wouldnt like to see the city focus shift to the west side swimming pools and parks and the Renmore residents might be miffed with all that traffic on their doorstep. Then the residents bordering the bay would lose their bay view for a big car park and the sound and dust of lorries would upset them.
There's a lot of conflicting interests at stake and people resist change and innovation. In any case its for the Galway people to decide and debate but speaking as an outsider its a no brainer.
A massive free car park on the city's edge, a park to rival Stephens Green, olympic size swimming pools at no cost, three thousand cars relieved from city centre, a relief road to city centre, all built on an ugly backwater that stinks in hot weather and has been an obstacle to avoid since Galway was first inhabited.

So who makes money from it, who pays to fill it in, all volunteer work? Laughable.

noelogara

ben.schlomo wrote: »

So who makes money from it, who pays to fill it in, all volunteer work? Laughable.

its simple. Basically its a free site needing a bit of remedial work.
It would take a fleet of say twenty trucks one day to fill one acre putting a meter high of stone all over if each truck could drop ten loads a day.
So in one hundred days the 100 acre bay would be filled with a meter high of stone barring the swim pool areas of course.
Then the whole area could be covered again with gravel to the same depth putting an average of two meters of fill all over with a central drainage duct to the sea.
About one hundred Euros per load or 1000 euros per truck per day. for twenty trucks it would be 20,000 per day and for 100 acres it would be 2,000,000 Euros.
Then the gravel layer would be the same again making a total of 4,000,000.
The committee would then be able to put a small charge of say two euros per day for car parking and that would generate a daily income of twenty to fifty thousand Euros and that would pay off the bank loan that financed the development in a year or two.
The charge could be dropped once the loan was repaid or it could be levied again for swimming pool development etc.
I reckon you wouldnt get many acres of prime real estate in Galway city centre for five million today and here is one hundred acres going free but then the gift horse is never recognised.

Robbo

noelogara wrote: »

its simple. Basically its a free site needing a bit of remedial work.
It would take a fleet of say twenty trucks one day to fill one acre putting a meter high of stone all over if each truck could drop ten loads a day.
So in one hundred days the 100 acre bay would be filled with a meter high of stone barring the swim pool areas of course.
Then the whole area could be covered again with gravel to the same depth putting an average of two meters of fill all over with a central drainage duct to the sea.
About one hundred Euros per load or 1000 euros per truck per day. for twenty trucks it would be 20,000 per day and for 100 acres it would be 2,000,000 Euros.
Then the gravel layer would be the same again making a total of 4,000,000.
The committee would then be able to put a small charge of say two euros per day for car parking and that would generate a daily income of twenty to fifty thousand Euros and that would pay off the bank loan that financed the development in a year or two.
The charge could be dropped once the loan was repaid or it could be levied again for swimming pool development etc.
I reckon you wouldnt get many acres of prime real estate in Galway city centre for five million today and here is one hundred acres going free but then the gift horse is never recognised.

I had a lengthy post typed out detailing many other things that would costs many other millions, if the will existed for such a project.

I then thought better of it as it'll only encourage this schemola.

However, I'll ask one question in two parts:

• How do you think clean title can be acquired by the "committee" to the "land", if at all?
• Have you had concern for the many carpet-baggers that may come out of the woodwork with their hands out; with tenuous claims to the land and an appetite for vexatious litigation?

forumfiend

Robbo wrote: »

tenuous claims to the land and an appetite for vexatious litigation?

Something like that happened with Dartmouth Square in Dublin a few years ago but I'm sure it would never happen here.

biko

If only I could lock developer's plans as easy as I can lock this thread maybe we wouldn't have had the recession.