The City Council have approved a plan to buy an office building in the Crown Square in Mervue and eventually redevelop the current City Hall site for social housing https://galwaybayfm.ie/galway-bay-fm-news-desk/councillors-approve-loan-to-move-city-hall-to-crown-square-in-mervue/
Its going to be odd that the County Council have a very central building but that the City Council will now move to the outskirts.
As usual now its been agreed, some of the Councillors seem to be rolling back their support https://connachttribune.ie/no-procurement-process-for-galway-city-council-move-to-crown-square/
Classic CEO response from the City Council CE0.
"
Following questions from Cllr John Connolly (FF), Mr McGrath did not say why it was not put through a public procurement process but indicated there was not a legal requirement to do so.
Agree it is a bit odd, but it suits all the City Council employees/executives who drive in from outside the City.
Bonham Quay at the Docks or Ceannt Station would be better location. City Council for sure need a new building.
They seem very cramped on the current site, I've never been in only seen it from the outside. Is the site as big as they're saying, enough for 230-250 social homes? I would expect that big an office building in Bonham Quay or Ceannt Station would have been multiples of what they're paying in Mervue but I agree would have been a better location.
There is very limited allocated parking in that development as I understand it.
Hopefully we won't be paying for additional parking.
The development is well serviced by two bus routes, don't forget.
Three: Burkes also stop near there.
I thought they were talking about joining up both the county and city councils there a few years ago, anyone know if this is still happening?
Hadn't heard anything lately about a merger but the County Council has a major funding shortfall and has lost a good amount of staff in the past few years because of a reduced budget https://www.galwaydaily.com/news/politics/planning-enforcement-virtually-non-existent-due-to-underfunding-of-council/
I doubt the City would want to merge with the County unless they have a proper budget to make it work
City Hall is small, been in a few times about 10yr or more ago now. It has not a great design in the first place. Its a big site, as much space is given over to surface Car parking as to the footprint of the office itself. Good place for housing, am sure they can get close to that no of units, but maybe not that high if they go with a public building on College Road itself like a Library, have a nice green park area at the back of the City Hall site between it and Forster Court so would be able to have that amenity for the residents.
Mervue the outskirts? Maybe you need to explore the east side a bit more.
I think your missing the main comparison point that NellyBellyJelly is making regarding locations of City and County Hall. The Proposed City Hall will be closer to the County boundary than County Hall will be and vice-versa. County Hall as it stands is smack bang in the City Centre(Eyre Square).
If the city and county were merged back into a single council, as they were before 1986, I imagine County Hall on Prospect Hill would be the main public office.
They wouldn't need to move at all if they just used the space given over to parking and built on that. There is more land given over to parking than is used by the city council building
The building occupies 2200sq meters of land
The car parks occupy approx 942, 869 & 558 sq meters respectively, for an approx total of 2369sq meters.
It would likely lead to a significant positive change in attitudes to PT, walking & cycling within the city council staff if all parking was removed.
Ah one can dream....
Both city and county councils have long term leases on a few office buildings around the town as the city/ county halls aren’t big enough.
City council has finance section in old BOI building in Eyre Square, Co Co lease the Centrepoint building in Liosbaun Estate.
Disquiet already only days after approving to go for the loan as the current site may not be used for housing
See attached for presentation from the executive to the councillors on the topic, has loads of info on the toic, drawings, costs, timelines, alternatives etc etc
Look at slide 9, an aerial photo, start of section 3.
There seem to be a lot of green fields?
There are several behind the Connacht hotel? Are these sports grounds in Mervue?
But there are also further green fields on the very left, behind Mervue church?
Also behind Moneen ETB and Chadwick's?
Also opposite Wellpark SC, at the Brothers/Daughters of Charity?
Seems to be plenty of space for hundreds of apts?
The ones behind the Connacht are the old OLBC pitch and Mervue Utd. The ones you think are behind Mervue church are St James. Why would these be built on? They're a well used and much needed recreational facility for the city.
Yep, all sports grounds or amenities.
More complaints about the lack of oversight into this deal. Apparently it was forced through very quickly so that they could avail of cheaper interest rates.
"The Tribune highlighted two weeks ago that a reply to a Freedom of Information request suggested that senior management at the Council did not meet with representatives of the Crown Square development in the 12 months prior to the proposal being presented to councillors – and if they did meet, then minutes were not kept."
This all sounds very dodgy. Surely this is the type of project that would be planned many years in advance and wouldn't need a rushed vote to purchase private office space...?
Are non public facing city council workers being offered hybrid working options?
The cynic in me feels like it's being moved to give the city senior officials (most of which don't live in Galway City) easy access to the motorway to avoid the commuter traffic that they've failed to address.
If you think Crown Square gives easy motorway access, you're dreaming. The east of the city has the worse traffic congestion, because that's where most jobs are.
Maybe I should have said easier.
there is nothing easy about getting to mervue at 8:30 / 9am in the morning unless you live in mervue/wellpark/tuam rd.
Well it is better than city center or the west...
To me this is a stupid idea... We are taking the main public administration office out of the centre of the city and moving it further away from town... This just encourages more car journeys..
They could get the bus.
The 405 and 401 stop nearby. They both start on the Westside.
"They will fund it by cutting back on other services, by not recruiting more staff, or not investing in useful projects and infrastructure important to the people in communities they are elected to serve.
Is there anyone brave enough to call a halt to this vanity project, before it’s too late?"
easier for brendan to drive from Roscommon to Mervue
Brendan is due to retire soon, but his senior colleagues are also commuting in from the east.
This move is nuts!! And its true for that journalist, no other media outlet is shining any spotlight on it.
Is there something dodgy about the way this move happened out of nowhere??
https://connachttribune.ie/city-hall-crown-move-is-out-of-their-control/
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