Car Parking Analysis | Sandymount Village Ideas

Sandymount is an urban neighbourhood within the first layer of perimeter suburbs contiguous to the Dublin city centre. It is relatively low density with much of the territory occupied by suburban housing with private car ownership. The land use is however, intensive with very little land unoccupied or unused. The area of highest density is the Village itself, which is principally served by on-street parking as there are no dedicated car parks. Any public realm interventions within Sandymount Village must as a result consider the existing parking provision.

As part of research activities for the Village Ideas, SAMRA have made a baseline assessment of this provision (see Appendix) and reviewed it in conjunction with their stakeholders, including local business owners/operators. This is outlined in more detail in the appendix.

Initially, a number of potential ‘pocket car parks’ around the Village perimeter were explored. This envisaged time-sharing car parking owned by local used-groups outside their hours of operation. However, upon review with local stakeholders, none remained as viable solutions.

Instead, a solution of shorter-term, high-turnover spaces within the Village and longer-term, low-turnover spaces outside the Village were proposed. The latter being described in Focus Area 12 of this website.

As an alternative to adding more car parks, it is proposed to increase the number of spaces available by reducing some no-parking areas and increase the turnover of existing spaces . This wouldenable more car users to be served from the existing compliment. Practically, this means that spaces would be available for shorter time increments (e.g. under 1 hour) after which the space could be available for another user. If agreed, this could be adopted as an operational measure to increase the number availing of the services with no greater allocation of space.

A need for longer term parking however, remains. This is to cater for those employed in the village who need parking as well as those travelling to Sandymount for pleasure walks along the seafront. Along the promenade, there are three car parks for this purpose. A fourth at Seán Moore Park would have the benefit of serving both needs and taking parking pressure off the Village.

Reduced pressure on the Village parking could facilitate a the possibility of greater space allocation for pedestrian use as part of the public realm, enhancing the character and experience of the Village for residents and visitors. This in turn would also be beneficial to local businesses through increased footfall.