Killnamonan House, The Ward, Co Dublin
8th June 1989
Dear Mr Gogarty,
Proposals For Discussion
Re: Your lands at Finglas, Ballymun, Donabate, Balgriffin and Portmarnock, Co. Dublin.
I refer to our many discussions regarding your following six parcels of land:
Lot 1: 100 acres (approx) at North Road, Finglas, including "Barrett's Land".
Lot 2: 12 acres (approx) at Jamestown Road, Finglas.
Lot 3: 100 acres (approx) at Poppintree, Ballymun.
Lot 4: 255 acres (approx) at Donabate (Turvey House and Beaverton House).
Lot 5: 250 acres (approx) at Balgriffin.
Lot 6: 9 acres (approx) at Portmarnock.
I submit the following proposals for your consideration:
Proposal No. 1 - Purchase Proposal
Lots 1, 2 and 3 Purchase Price £4,000 per acre 10% deposit payable on the signing of the contract Completion 1 year from date of contract.
Lot 4: Purchase Price IR£1 million Deposit 10% on contract Completion 2 years from date of contract.
Lot 5: Purchase Price IR£750,000 Deposit 10% on contract Completion 3 years from date of contract.
Lot 6: Option to be granted for nominal consideration (£100) for a period of 2 years at a purchase price of £30,000 peracre.
Proposal No. 2 - Participation Proposal
As an alternative to the outright purchase proposal above I am prepared to deal with Lots 1 - 5 (inclusive) above on the basis that I would be given a 50% share in the ownership of the said lands in exchange for procuring Planning Permission and Building Bye Law Approval. The time span which I would require to be allowed to obtain the Permissions and Approval and my anticipated financial expenditure (apart from my time input) in respect of the different lots would be as follows:
Lots 1, 2 and 3
A period of 2 years within which to procure a buildable Planning Permission and Building Bye Laws Approval for mixed development including housing, industrial and commercial.
My financial expenditure up to a figure of £150,000.00 (to include Architect's fees, Consulting Engineer's fees, Planning and Bye Law charges etc.)
Lots 4 and 5 Time requirement - 3 years.
Financial Expenditure - up to £150,000.00
In considering the above proposals the following points of information should be borne in mind by all parties:
1. From the point of view of obtaining Planning Permission the entire lands (lots 1 to 6 inclusive) have the following shortcoming:
No zoning for development purposes NO services.
No proposal in current draft development plans (City and County) for the zoning of the lands or any part thereof for development purposes.
2. We face a very severe uphill battle to arrange for the availability of services and for the ultimate procurement of Planning Permission.
3. The steps to be taken on the way to procuring a buildable Planning Permission and Building Bye Laws Approval are notoriously difficult, time-consuming and expensive.
Material Contravention Orders must be obtained and this involves the procurement of a majority vote at 2 full Council Meetings at which 78 Council Members must be present and it also involves satisfactory compliance with extensive requirements and pre-conditions of the Planning Authority and the inevitable dealing with protracted appeals to an Bord Pleanala.
4. It is essential that the Planning Application should be brought in the name of an active housebuilding company which enjoys good standing and good working relationship with the Planners and the Council Members and in this regard I confirm that in the event of our reaching agreement regarding the within proposals that all Planning Applications should be made by one of my Companies which meets the said requirements.
5. In the case of all the lands the applications will be highly sensitive and controversial and we can realistically expect strenuous opposition from private, political and planning sectors. One of my active companies will have to take the limelight in such applications and withstand the objections and protests which will inevitably confront it. Apart from the anticipated financial expenditure as outlined above it should be borne in mind that I will personally have to give extensively of my time and efforts over the entire period of the applications including the necessary preliminary negotiations in regard to services and zoning. It must be borne in mind that I will have to abandon other projects which would be open to myself and my companies in order to give proper attention to this project. If I am successful in changing your lands from their present status of agricultural lands with very limited potential even for agricultural use into highly valuable building lands I would have to be rewarded with a minimum 50% stake in the ownership of the lands. Our advisors would have to work out the details as to how this can be effected in the most tax-efficient manner.
I look forward to hearing from you in relation to the above proposals. In the case of the first proposal which relates to the outright purchase of the lands (excluding Lot 6) I would not be averse to a proposal which would involve the vendors retaining a participation stake of up to 20% in the purchasing company if you felt that an ongoing interest in the future development of the lands would be more acceptable to the present owners.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Bailey.
Mr. Jim Gogarty Clontarf Dublin 3.