CPA defers Beach Bay hotel plan
(CNS): Plans for a 9-storey, 100+room, $167 million hotel and resort project in the quiet residential neighborhood of Beach Bay, Bodden Town, has been deferred by the Central Planning Authority, officials have confirmed. As objectors packed Wednesday’s planning meeting when the application was heard, the CPA pressed the developers’ representatives on a number of issues that have caused concern, which led to the adjournment of the application.
The CPA has asked the developers to revise the plans regarding the high water mark setback, the location of the required public access to the sea, the location of the “back of house” facilities and the number of parking spaces.
Some of the issues that have fulled objections are the plans to build bungalows, walkways and pool decks directly on a turtle nesting beach, as well as installing sewage and wastewater treatment facilities on the site, which will back onto homes and residential developments.
The project was presented to the CPA by local architect Andrew Gibb and Spencer Levine, of RAL Development Services, on behalf of the developer, Melkonian Capital Management. Levine said the project was not a “box-style hotel”, but spoke of a “feathered” design meant to appear as a wave.
Pressed about the issues, the men said the height was not negotiable because of the views, and that building on the beach was also essential to the experience they wanted to create.
But objectors are worried about a number of issues, such as the impact on the environment, beach access, and the scale of the project in a very quiet residential community of family homes.
While Gibb argued that the luxury development, which is to be branded and managed by the Mandarin Hotel Group would be an eco-friendly project, the objectors were not convinced. Some had specific concerns about the back of house buildings being so close to their homes, others were concerned about the tranquility of their neighbourhood being lost and the border destruction of the natural environment.
Chris Saunders, the MLA for the area, has raised his own concerns about the developer not working with the residents. He told CNS that his constituents are not opposed to the concept of development in the Beach Bay area but are concerned about the scale of this proposal and the failure of the developers to engage directly with the community.
Saunders accepted a 6-page petition from the residents, with dozens of signatures objecting to a proposed name change of the road leading to the development from Beach Bay Road to St James Point Road. Saunders said that he has already received assurances from Melkonian that they are no longer planning to seek a name change to the road, but the petitioners told CNS they want that in writing before they give up their campaign.
Many questions remain about a project that still appears to be too big for the limited amount of beachfront at the site, which will be further reduced if the plans to build bungalows and other facilities on it are eventually permitted.
See details of the application and objections on the planning agenda in the CNS Library
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Category: development, Local News
I don’t think Mandarin hotel group would want to be a target of international outrage for destroying turtle’s habitat.
Imagine you come home and there is a parking lot, a sewer line where your house used to be?
It is not like turtle could go elsewhere to lay their egg.
A crime will be committed if turtle’s habitat is destroyed. Not hypothetically, but literally. There are international courts in case one wonders. Do you want that kind if exposure?
everything about this project is off. The underhanded way the zoning of large parcels of land with homes already built right next door, were changed from low density residential to hotel over several years – done in secrecy. The blatant disregard of the people already living here. Not only are the turtles threatened but we have owls, bats, parrots, agoutis, the Cayman python, woodpeckers, doves, wild banana orchids, and other rare plants. I just don’t understand why this govt. is so set on destroying the natural beauty of Cayman. This was one of the few places which did not flood in Hurricane Ivan. Lets how it goes when the next hurricane hits and all our protective trees, bushes, cliffs are gone.
And the chairperson of the National Trust is the local architect for it…
I personally think that the Government is taking the development of the Islands a little
too fast and is lost regards and respect for everything and everyone .
They say that the development is to create
Jobs , who are they creating these jobs for ?
I am really happy to see Caymanians standing against the corruption and thinking thinking the way the Government should be .
I bet you won’t find another country in the whole wide world that would want to build on a beach. I don’t think the idea would even cross anyone’s mind.
Turtles protecting organizations should scream about it.
Chris Saunders is right when he points to the overly vast scale of the project. Its impact will be totally transforming on the people who live there and on the ‘lungs’ the beach provides which the locals have always enjoyed and the turtles depend on. The lives of Beach Bay’s residents have already been made hellish over the years by Whiterock’s attempts to establish a quarry there with endless CPA appeals, every one of which had to be defended. The east-west coast road will come to a standstill even more often than it does already.
This project begs the question whether size limits should considered for developments away from our 7-mile Gold Coast. It was the same problem with Ironwood, designed on a scale quite inappropriate for our tiny island and its fragile environment. It would have consumed nearly a square mile of forest and wetlands, a significant percentage of our total land mass. All these developments are being passed though the sieve of laws and regulations that haven’t been updated for a quarter of a century and which are bound by our own laws to be reviewed every five years. We really can do better.
Is this the same Mr. Gibb who is the chairman of Natural Trust which is enshrined to protect and preserve…how does that work….I guess Mr. Gibb nah like d’turtle much.
The man has a total conflict of interest and should not be involved with the National Trust !!!
AGM next Wednesday.
yet, the Director of the Trust says these things in teh Cayman Compass…
“Nadia Hardie of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands asked for an assurance that follow-up on the recommendations would be provided.
“That’s my concern, that the NCC makes these recommendations, and I sometimes feel we don’t get the feedback on whether these recommendations are actually being followed by planning,” Hardie said.”
Isn’t it the same organization they represent…does Mr. Gibb talk to the Director at all…this nah foolish na?
oh my goodness yes it is,
News Flash!!! Some of the people on these Boards really get on there with the intention to benefit the Cayman Islands, but way too many on some boards do it for the sole reason to benefit themselves. Sometimes they bring no relevant expertise except the ability to make a fool of those appointing them, turn Cayman into what they wants hjit to be and to shore up fheir own agendas.
How does this really work. The local architect who is “involved” in this project with no real experience of anything of such magnitude, also is the Chairman of the National Trust of our country. This is weird. No it isn’t, it is the Cayman Islands where nothing is as it seems. Something fishy here, that stinks more that the sargassum.
SMITH COVE!
Government needs to intervene just like it did for Smith Cove, and safeguard that beach for the people. Its the only beach left in Beach Bay !
You mean Smith Bacadere . Why are we allowing changes to names of places and roads to be changed on a whim. Caymanians know both places as Beach Bay road and Smith Bacadere, and if the Chairman and members of Planning want a demonstration on their hand let them change it. Hmm
Sigh. You forgot to remember that a generation of us in Town grew up calling it Smith’s Cove. (Yes, I swam there regularly and it was never a barcadere at that time.) So while not arguing with going with the older name, don’t be surprised when a lot of us who grew up there still call it Smith’s Cove. (I am not the original poster.)
Yup, I am 31, grew up in South Sound and never heard of a barcadere until a couple of years ago.
Yes, let’s keep turning away investors, hotel chains, cruise lines.. lets keep berating DART and arguing against afford these people concessions; as the saying goes, you won’t miss it till its gone and then it’s too late. This new generation of Caymanian activists weren’t around when their forefathers worked hard to build and create something more than the mosquito ridden isles that time forgot… careful.. it can get forgotten again.
That might be a good thing. Give the environment time to recover from relentless, thoughtless destruction.
Who does all this develpment benefit ? Seriously ! who ?
The very point I raise all the time. Who are we developing the island for? Do Caymanians have a better way of life since the 70s? I seriously doubt it.
thanks Chris. I am a full bred Caymanian am also wondering who we are developing the Country for. A hurricane like the 1932 will send them all scampering and we will be left to save ourselves.
It benefits YOU by providing revenue to Government so you don’t have to pay income tax.
How? I pay for my kids private education, my private health insurance, my garbage collection (I am in a strata), my housing, my travel. I also pay for all my food, clothes, travel, and safe like mad for retirement. I ask and receive nothing from my government. Many other Caymanians are self reliant too. I am watching my country getting screwed up for the benefit of a small group of foreigners aided by a smaller group of Caymanian oligarchs.
If or when investment dries up in Cayman, we’ll be asked to pay for our neighbors kids schooling, their insurance and probably their food and housing too. Where else will the money come from.
I think a lot of people are taking an awful lot for granted.
I am already paying for my neighbours kids schooling, insurance, housing and healthcare.
They were imported to provide cheap labour for these same developers. They were not paid properly, and now sadly are an economic drain on society, abandoned by the developers who still insist on importing unlimited amounts of future underpaid and uncared for fodder.
Unbridled development is destroying us.
The developer. That’s the only reason commercial development occurs. They hunt for land, scheme what they can sell, build it, take the money and use it to destroy and then build somewhere else. They do not care about land use, the environment, the community etc. – that is other people’s job. Their job is to make profit from building. They’re basically pests.
I don’t think that would be such a bad idea. Least this way we can go back to humble beginnings and save these tiny islands from greedy developers and politicians. I for one would much prefer the mosquitoes than the eye sore of concrete building and being unable to have a day on the beach in the shade.
Yes, let’s say no to investors who want to build 50 storey buildings on the Seven Mile Beach Corridor. We have new Hyatt, Hilton and Four Seasons hotels in the pipeline. Enough is enough. Let’s focus on the most immediate problem THE DUMP. We have to find a solution to where all this new garbage is going to go to.
Do you think it will really work like that? Give me hope!
Pretty soon every beach here will be private access only. Beaches are a birthright to Caymanians and their access to them is being eroded slowly but steadily…
utter nonsense. when was the last ime a public beach was sold to a developer?
Every day. Every beach is “public” in the sense we can all use it right to the vegetation line.
In this case, public beach access took you right to the cliff and then you had to parachute down, with your beer cooler
“..the men said the height was not negotiable” lol the nerve. What the Cayman Islands Government should tell them is that this entire project is non-negotiable.
That comment really burned me too… who do these people think they are? That project is WAY out of scale for that site… Its a travesty to allow it
Worth remembering that it was Alden and his government who give the project the green light including changing the name from Beach Bay to St James. Also lets not forget the millions the developers is meant to get in concession.
The only losers here will be local people who live in the area and those like me who like revisit happy childhood memories playing by beach.
I do not believe that the Premier even has the authority to change any street name. He is the Premier and not the owner. That too is very underminding and insulting. Any one who cannot live or conduct business in any area or on any street in the Cayman Islands without having to change the name should respectfully move on. I understand, don’t know for sure if it factual, that the main reason for cutting the road connecting Manse Road to Beach Bay was to benefit the family of a prominent PPM family who owns oodles of land in the area. So far it is not smooth enough to drive on it but I guess they are waiting to see if the development will go ahead before finishing it up.
yawn….nimbyism at its worst.
A Win!
Buying more material locally and getting a top quality roofer usually does the trick.
Ah haha!…… Not so sure about top quality though :/
This should be denied. There is something strange afoot, and no one can deny my (and everyone’s) prescriptive right to access that beach. The fact that these characters appear to have tried to present plans that do that should be enough. There appears to be not a bone of local sensitivity (or respect) in them.
The CPA should listen to Caymanians and say, “Bonvoy”. Instead, they’ve left the door open to reconvene when local residents are less interested, or misdirected on when to show up.
The only time I can remember them listening to Caymanians was with the infamous chicken farm in East End. Everyone involved should show up to every meeting and voice your objections until they make the changes that you feel you can live with. Even if you don’t have house/ property there you can still attend the meetings. they won’t allow you to voice your concern but they cannot throw you out. Do not back down until you get the results that is best for you and the wider Cayman Islands. These millionaires need to understand that they cannot come here and change our neighbourhoods that we spent our hard earned money to develop. They come in and scrape away every semblance of what we call home. They ran us out of South Sound, West Bay Rood, George Town and other places and now they are trying to chase us out of Beach Bay. If they want to live among they just might have to accept our nice peaceful neighborhood as it is or move on. This is our home, we have no where else to go!