CPA orders 7MB fence moved
Fencing along Seven Mile Beach
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority has confirmed that organisers of a music festival set to take place just off Grand Cayman’s famous Seven Mile Beach this weekend have been asked to move a double line of fencing that was erected across the beach on Monday, which caused a public stir. Just one day after the chairman of the Public Lands Commission said that their chief inspector had found nothing wrong with the fencing, the CPA took a different view. The CPA said it conducted a site visit on Tuesday to verify the location of the fence line in relation to the high water mark.
“During the inspection, it was determined that there was scope to adjust the placement of the fence line to address any perception that the temporary fencing impeded the public’s ability to traverse the beach,” planning officials said in a statement. This was in response to CNS enquiries, which were made after readers raised concerns that the fencing, although temporary, was causing a serious impediment to the beach for a significant stretch.
“These adjustments are currently underway with the full cooperation and assistance of the event organisers and a follow-up inspection will be conducted before the end of day to verify the final placement,” the CPA added in its statement.
The authority said that the application by the organisers of the KAABOO Cayman festival for temporary tents and fencing on the beach side of the event site was made and granted in August with some conditions, including that the area between the fencing and the sea would not be blocked in any way.
The CPA had also stipulated that the tents and fencing were to be removed no later than 14 days from the date of being erected.
Fencing along Seven Mile Beach erected for the KAABOO festival (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
“As the beach area is quite dynamic in nature, it was difficult to assign an exact location for the fence line at the time of consideration by the CPA,” officials explained, noting that this was why they had gone to the area yesterday to look at where the fence had been erected and concluded it should be moved.
Yesterday, the Public Lands Commission, which is tasked with regulating the use and enjoyment of public lands, including beach access, gave the fence the green light after their visit, stating that it was on “private land” and was lawful. On Wednesday, however, the commission clarified its statement, explaining that the fencing was on private land and therefore did not need their permission.
But there have been concerns that this was indeed an issue for the lands commission because, despite being on Dart-owned beachfront property, the long line of fencing was traversing across the beach well below the vegetation line and the high water mark, and in some places almost at the ocean edge, and therefore on parts of the beach that are not private.
The fence is temporary since the festival, which opens tomorrow, ends on Sunday, and all of the fencing is expected to be removed within two weeks. But the situation has highlighted the ambiguity of the law, and people campaigning to protect beach access are concerned that it sets an unfortunate precedent.
The second edition of Cayman News Service’s new podcast Listen Up! outlines the ongoing challenge of beach access for locals and the problems resulting from the lack of enforcement and ambiguities around the legislation.
This latest issue and the position of the Public Lands Commission illustrates that the establishment of this supervisory body has done nothing to address the challenges residents continue to face trying to get to the beach.
Category: Local News
4:51 pm…i am happily divorved 10 years and counting…never looked back…loving and living life!??
Tear down the frigging fence. Ridiculous encroachment on Caymanian and public access. Tear it down! Shame on you!
Good god cayman can complain about any damn thing, I hope it’s rained out, bunch of miserable people jeesas, do any of you even like yourselves?
No, we are originally descendants from pirates so what do you expect and remember we have human rights too.
Kaboo … A Drug Dealers Dream.
Hope so. Got kids to feed.
i rather take that ticket and purchase a round trip ticket to CUBA! cubakaboo
Does your wife know this?
You mean my hubby.
Did they end up putting the tickets on sale? The prices reported in the other paper this morning looked substantially lower than the prices they were originally charging?
There are ticket Hawkers on F.B. now flogging tickets they got stuck with , buying them all at the first release in the hope to make a $ killing. A good opportunity to beat them down in price. Getting cheaper by the hour now.
Well as it is reported to be all sold out now … 10,000 tickets per day !!!
Ticket prices were USD 400, 875, 3670, and 17500 per person for the weekend
AND … they want ordinary Caymanians to “volunteer” on FIVE hour shifts, without being provided with a guaranteed place to park, or a shuttle to reach the venue, advising them to park and pay to be shuttled to the venue. Without being given a meal or meal ticket, being advised to carry a small snack (granola bar), and to support the food vendors.
But on the plus side … “you can enjoy the event before or after your shift .. once you take of the “Free shirt” provided on the day of the event …
I guess some ordinary Caymanians will be #DoyouKaaboo .. if you call that enjoyment !
DNA test results have determined that this is…..a lie.
My tickets cost US$205 each. For two days. Or US$102.50 per day, as it’s safe to assume your maths ability is limited.
By comparison, my tickets to a single artist concert lasting a few hours in the US later this year cost US$122.50 each.
By all accounts, I’d say KAABOO is far the greater value for money.
If they allow fencing now sooner or later they will want to fence off the whole beach leaving the cayman people no where to walk that’s what the owners of the condominium would want to do in time I think the hotels and the condos owners are just taking slow steps to control the whole public beach so no one will be able to sit or walk in front of their place making it only for those that live in their hotel or condo the cayman people should be very tired of all of these outsides coming here and doing what ever they was and we as a people are letting them get away with it so cayman people please stand up for your rights and stop letting these outsiders walk all over you they really don’t think that the cayman people is smart enough to stop them the beaches is for the cayman people make it stay that way
That’s the idea mate!
Longest run on sentence ever. You win.
That’s the price of Slavery… Get over it.
” If you Black you stay back ; If you Brown you hang around ; if you White you alright”.
Yuck – it is disappointing that the crowd will be filled with labourers who have finished their shift. For that price the tickets should have coveted paid staff who could shuffle off when their done.
The high water mark is irrelevant CPA. The fence should not be permitted seaward of the vegetation line. The public have the right to access the whole beach, not just some strip down by the water.
There is no stopping our iconic Cayman beach fence! Our very own Taj Mahal.
After all this rain and thunder this morning, are they going to rename it “mozzie-fest”?
I heard thunder too…..Kaboom,Kaboom
Good news CPA. Now, could someone please make them put the “beach rock” back how they found it?
10:32 Certainly the plan is to build on the beach rock. Probably already approved.
Sad.
I am sure a big fire was lit under the ass. Of someone in CPA TO HAVE. THEM MAKE THAT DECISION .
This concert is not an investment for Cayman. Let’s be real. How many working Caymanians can afford the ticket price?
Same ones walking up and down with their iPhones. Life=Choices.
I’m sure NAU has a stash of tickets they be handing out.
Or how many Caymanians are actually employed or benefitting?
And many businesses, which employ Caymanians are involved too.
Yeah, Kimpton, DART, DART, Duran Duran, DART,
but lots of Caymanians are currently WORKING for Kaaboo, is that okay with you?
Details? How many. And how many expats?
Be a good FOI request…
Don’t forget about the nonworking Caymanians.
I’m just going for the non-working mummies.
Yummy
I agree only that it prices out many working-class Caymanians but remember there are vendors who will be at the event, and the hotels and AirBnbs, restaurants and you name it that will receive a bump to some degree over the weekend.
It’s a big investment in Cayman but even bigger investment in the Dart brand, because if it flops, both Dart and CI Govt will get the flack. If it succeeds, Dart, CI Govt, tourist spots, vacation rentals and many more will be praised for the successful experience
And yet the Frank Sound cement block wall with rebar sticking out of it still stands. We all know why.
I don’t know why
To catch a fly.
I am the person who originally reported that and I remain disgusted by it, and the lack of any action to remove it. I also campaigned for that area of beach and land next to the launching ramp to be brought by government and declared public beach.
I was there this last week and have noticed the neighbouring property now has two stakes in the ground beyond both the vegetation line and the high watermark. I am not sure why but it gives the impression they are planning to extend their property line to take a big chunk of beach. I certainly hope not or I will be complaining to planning.
Why, or should I say who?
Why?
Someone inveets tens of millions to promote our islands and we can’t get the government agencies to use some common sense on a short term setup? What a joke
what don’t you and your investor friend go find somewhere else to corrupt people and take over.
We ask only that investors respect our rules and culture that helped make Cayman so attractive to them in the first place. In this instance there appears to have been a disregard. That is what is so offensive. The fence is just a symptom of a much wider and deeper issue.
ha ha ha…rich rules ….
KAABOO is a sellout.
more like stopped selling…if u 10,000 tickets were sold, i’ve got a bucket of sand to sell ya! however, hopefully they’ll learn a lot from this one and come back better next year with even better artists….we should all wish kaaboo well, its a positive thing for cayman to host….like the film festival that keeps trying..and taste of cayman, etc..these are good things…i’m off to find a cheap VIP ticket on a local website and try to hug Brian Adams
Hope it rains for another 24 hours and turns the site into a swamp. No need for a fence then. Maybe they can then rent some row boats for another $500.00 each.
7:49 Kaboo is a ruse, to build atop the beach rock.
50 stories?
Just pushing the boundaries – next it will be permanent
But they don’t get it….
A foolish head won’t allow hands to rest.
Once done at Kaaboo maybe our famous fence can help Trump with part of his wall.?
They are given two weeks to take down the fence that took them a few hours to erect?!
So wrong. So very wrong.
Kaaboo is two days and yet, somehow, this fence may be allowed to be up for almost three weeks!
OMG! Three weeks… how many times do you walk along that exact part of the beach that it will impact your life so dramatically…
Not the point bobo
The whole application – they didn’t put in one for fence A, one for fence B, one for Tent C, one for tent D, one for big pile of containers E, etc., etc., etc.
Well guess Decco will start buying materials elsewhere now!
I heard Donald Trump is in town?
Guest appearance with Shaggy.
Plot twist: he IS shaggy
???…dart has just sold out the biggest musical festival ever to be held in the carribbean…. but we still have caymankind complaining…..????
they didn’t sell out. They stopped selling…two different things
wrong. bigger festivals in Martinique. get over yourself. this is small fry
Martinique has around 300,000 people if I’m not mistaken, and they still cannot host a concert of this quality(number of artists, visitors flying in etc). If this becomes an annual even Cayman will eventually become the music and entertainment centre for not just the Caribbean but the whole of North America(outside of the U.S and Canada of course) Central America and South America. Martinique soon to become a sand fly compared to Cayman. Mark my words
keep living in the “Cayman is what makes the world revolve” bubble.
“concert of this quality”
I’ll just leave this here: Bryan Adams.
please expand…
Martinique is an Insular region of France, population 385,220. Martinique is part of France, no restriction of movement between the island and mainland France, they use French francs, vote in Presidential French elections, and carry a French Passport. Totally different from how the British treated their colonies. Now compare Cayman to Martinique.
curacao Jazz festival over 15000 people better line up
Who wants to go to that shithole?
right…so you been? they have better food, cleaner, no dart garbage smell, and way less expats! yes Curacao is horrible! the issue is with the comment the biggest festival-maybe it is per capita, it just isn’t the biggest in the carribean! why do we need to exaggerate everything? small man syndrome perhaps? Cayman is my home and I tell everyone it is the best place to live, but i dont need to lie about the other irrelevant marketing crap.
yawn…all we know is the civil service incompetence is never ending….
but lets bash dart for a weekend anyway…….
if you think this means anything ..you are lost…..zzzzzzzzzzzz
small victory for the small minds…..
Well well cistern…What do we have here?
How does this fence prevent people from going into the sea or sitting on the beach? Are they not able to walk around the fence or go to some other beach. Sound like shit disturbers to me.
Next remove their Cheif Inspector.
Wow, now those Britannia people might be able to sneak by and get onto a Dart neighbouring beach. Is this a fencing emergency similar to the Trump crisis? Will we get naval support from the Motherland? 🙂
How does Dart get away with calling there Liquor store managers “team leaders” and avoiding the fees our Government forces other businesses to pay? Who is getting the benefit? Just curious. Cause this whole two sets of rules for Dart is getting tiresome.
Because they have done so much for the Cayman Islands (meaning paid off the right ones) that they can just do as they dam well please!
Build the fence!!!
Long live the fence!
Jack asses rule!
What a joke..waste of everyone’s time. It will be gone next week, who cares.
You don’t. I do.
Get a life!
Stop destroying my planet with your shiny drivel and need to take selfies.
Symptom of our society…we have a world full of whiners. The concert has real economic benefit to the people of Cayman. Tax revenue that can benefit schools and children.
But God forbid someone has to to walk on an 10 foot section of beach instead of a 20 foot section… for a couple of days (on a normally quiet stretch of beach).
So as long as the economic gain is large enough we can ignore the law?
Yes, I am okay with it when it comes to temporary fence placement on public land.
If people were being hurt I might take issue.
I care, because I had to abide by the law and apply for my fence.
I had to go through the proper channels as I am not a rich developer. It is sickening that Dart gets a free pass from Govt. for things that small people have to pay for, it is the inequality that is disgusting. That our own Government does not see Caymanians as worthy of representing is frightening.
And yes I can hear the expat symphony, Dart is Caymanian. But locals face a different reality, and our rights and access are being eroded daily for a dollar in someone’s pocket. It is sad.
Your fence doesn’t support a revenue generating activity and I am guessing it is permanent.
Don’t compare apples and oranges.
Also don’t negate facts, I am quite certain that Dart applied to erect the temporary fence, what was at issue was the distance to the water line. Which for a couple of days is fine.
And is your fence temporary? Are you taking it down in 2 weeks? Does your fence help to generate millions in revenue? Hmmm… millions in revenue, no damage to our island and its gone in less than 2 weeks. Quit whining.
No damage?
Why don’t you go back to whatever country you came from and leave us comedians alone!
Us minority Caymanians care.
Now that may mean nothing to Dart, government and you.
So just please leave, leave us alone.
Call if you need a NO CHARGE taxi to take you to the airport.
94B EACH.
Of course you do! What else have you got to do all day but “nit pick” at the most pedantic matters that take place on this island.
Why not focus on persuading your government to heavily invest in the education system, recruit some decent teachers who can string more than two words together and give young Caymanians the best shot of being ‘literate’ employees!
WHAT F…N MESS WE GOT!!!! Dam.
What is it for?
Keep out locals who may attempt access from beach because only foruiners can buy those tickets to access the fyre festival 2019
Fyre. So cool daddy-o.
Awesome, I’ll bring the marshmallows!
Keep out locals who don’t want to buy tickets that are available locally but want to get access for free you mean.
And the hits just keep on coming ??.. This is going to be nothing but a cluster F***.
The fence wins! Well done fence, well done.
Lol. Cause that changes anything.