Yay! We Got The Greystones Park Plans!

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kay, it might not look all that exciting, and it might be hard to picture the finished product, but, be the holy, it feels good to finally get our hands on the Greystones Park plans.

At least, we think this 16-acre stretch of landscape trees, nooks, crannies and, hey, a dog park will be called Greystones Park.

Either way, it’s going to be one hell of an addition to the town, providing a manicured meadow that sits between Greystones harbour and The Cliff Walk.

Initially, the plan was for a 19-acre park, but, an additional three acres was thrown to the developers as an incentive to resume building Marina Village after that nasty little recession in 2008 left the entire harbour in boarded-up limbo.

Back then, there was no dog park included in the plans either, but, thanks to a campaign by Maria Sweeney and Bernadette ‘Don’t Call Me Bernie’ Stokes, the powers that be thought it would be best to throw the town that particular bone.

Work within the red box above is due to start in the coming days, and the park itself is due to be completed in the second quarter of 2019. The areas outside the red line are due to be completed in the third and fourth quarter of 2020.

Here’s the official spiel… 

The design of the park aims to protect the coastal amenity and scenic quality of the area while providing a safe and sustainable recreational park.

The design includes undulating mounding and a safety barrier to prevent the public from accessing the clifftop edge. The undulating mounding will complement the character of the surrounding landscape and be reminiscent of coastal dunes.

The design of the park creates new wildlife corridors linking with the landscape along the Bray Head walk. The mounding which shields the public from the cliff edge will also preserve areas of long grass from pedestrian traffic, creating undisturbed wildlife corridors, and seating will be provided. The park will have a strong ‘sense of place’ rooted in the coastal character of the site.

Naturally, those completion dates are rough estimates, but, with time being money, we’re guessing that by Christmas 2020, Greystonians are going to have a lot more space to space out in…