This submission is being made in respect to the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) Draft Adare Map, published by Limerick City & County Council on 1st November 2022
My name is Marty Boylan, I am a landowner in Adare. Some of my land is zoned serviced sites. The folio numbrer is LK5229F. A portion of this land zoned phase 1 serviced sites appears in your Draft Maps of the land considered to be in scope for the RZLT as of October 1, 2022.
I wish to challenge the inclusion of my land on the map on the basis that contrary to the provisions of Section 653B of the Act, that my land does not meet the criteria set out within the relevant legislation.
‘Guidance on the Residential Zoned Land Tax, Part 22A - 01-01’ in accordance with Finance Act 2021 states;
“Generally, the tax applies to land that, on or after 1 January 2022, is zoned as being suitable for residential development and is serviced”.
Section 2.2 of this document provides the definition;
”Serviced’ means having access to the necessary public infrastructure and facilities including road and footpath access, public lighting, foul sewer drainage, surface water drainage and water supply necessary for dwellings to be developed and for which there is service capacity available sufficient to enable housing to be developed. It is only when land is zoned for residential use and has access to necessary infrastructural services to allow for development to proceed that it is within the scope of the tax”.
My land does not have access to any of the necessary public infrastructure or facilities listed above
This submission makes the case that contrary to the provisions of Section 653B of the Act, that my land is not serviced and is not capable of being serviced in the near future. Under Section 653B of the provisions, the definition of land in scope for RZLT identifies lands which are connected to, or able to be connected to services as being in scope. The land must also be connected to, or have access to public infrastructure and facilities necessary for dwelling to be developed and with sufficient service capacity available for such development.
It should be noted that the Irish Water treatment plant in Adare has limited capacity and is in need of a major update to make it fit for purpose. This in itself, is stifling the future development of housing in Adare.
The whole purpose of the RZLT taxation measure is intended to stimulate residential development. How can this happen when the services have limited capacity?
As set out within legislation, it is reasonable to exclude land that cannot be currently serviced and is not likely to be serviced in the future.
Currently, my land cannot be properly serviced as connections to services require access to third party lands, negotiating with third party landowners and third party future development to take place, as a result the land cannot be serviced and thus falls out of the scope of Section 653B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and Finance Act 2022.
It also states in the ‘The Residential Zoned Land Tax - Guidelines for Planning Authorities 2022’ that
“as the tax does not require consideration of land ownership for the purpose of mapping, issues such as lack of consent for access to services across other third party lands may only come to light through submissions during the public display period and may be considered at that stage, with revisions to the map being made prior to publication of the final map”
Due to my observations, I ask the planning authority to revises the Draft RZLT Map and remove the identification of my lands from the these maps and that I will not be liable to RZLT on my land going forward
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