South Dublin County councillors upheld the decision not to rezone an area of land belonging to businessmen John Magnier and JP McManus in the Liffey valley following a vote on Monday afternoon.
The St Edmundsbury site, on the southside of the river Liffey, close to Lucan and just west of the Hermitage Golf Club, will not be rezoned.
However, sites at Finnstown Castle, between Lucan and Adamstown, and at Coldcut Road, south of the Liffey Valley shopping centre, will be rezoned for housing after the council vote.
The Irish Times previously reported that the council’s chief executive, Colm Ward, had proposed rezoning the three sites, which combined could accommodate more than 1,700 homes.
It followed an edict last summer from Minister for Housing James Browne that all local authorities must provide significant additional land for housing.
Councillors previously voted against rezoning the land.
A number of councillors on Monday raised the issue that they had to vote more than once on the issue.
Councillor Daniel Loftus of Sinn Féin said: “I understand this policy that we have to have a second vote, but we already voted on this. People have made their points clear.”
People Before Profit-Solidarity councillor Jess Spear said: “The process has created a loss of trust and confidence in democratic decision making. The community feels that the council is just holding another vote to get the outcome that you want, which you are.”
At the beginning of the meeting Ward said: “I do appreciate the challenges and the difficulties and the burden that has been carried by councillors throughout this process.”
He said the second vote on the issue was a “statutory process”.
“It’s not something we’re trying to do to get people to change their minds or anything else, that’s the process and we have to respect that and we have to see that through,” he said.
The council meeting heard that 1,710 submissions were received, including prescribed bodies, raising “various observations” and were “heavily weighted to St Edmundsbury and Finnstown”.
The Irish Times previously reported that more than 1,600 submissions opposed the rezoning of the St Edmundsbury site.
A demonstration against the proposal to rezone St Edmundsbury was held in Lucan, west Dublin, on Saturday, by the Save St Edmundsbury Protest Committee, calling on local councillors to vote against the proposal.
The land is currently zoned as “high amenity” due to its environmental and natural amenity value.