Smith Cove revamp stirs up trouble
(CNS): Plans to ‘enhance’ Smith Barcadere in South Sound is stoking backlash because people want the public beach left in its natural state. Government purchased more land in what is also known as the Smith Cove area in 2016 after it all came under threat from development and a public campaign was launched to save the much loved cove. Although local MLA Barbara Conolly promised residents that they would have input on any development at the site, government has now drawn up plans without consultation that go well beyond what the public appears to want.
The purchase of the land with around $5 million from the Environmental Protection Fund was warmly welcomed by the community as it is one of Grand Cayman’s few remaining beach beauty spots.
However, those spearheading the campaign to save it made it clear at a public meeting following the acquisition that they did not want government to develop the site or to allow commercial activity but to leave it as natural as possible. Enhancing Smith Cove, many said, was impossible as it was already beautiful and nature did not need any help.
At that meeting Conolly said government would consult residents about any development. However, earlier this month the government issued a tender for general contractors to give a quote for a revamp project that includes an office, a car park on the sea side, walk ways, viewing decks, a retaining wall, Cabanas and what appears to be the clearing of the natural bush and trees, all of which is causing concern.
Morne Botes, one of those who spearheaded the campaign to ‘Save the Cove’, said that although there are aspects of the design that are welcome, some of it goes too far.
“I do wish MLA Barbara Conolly would have consulted with the public as she promised she would in person at the previous public meeting,” he told CNS after government posted the tender invitation and published the proposed designs.
“Smith Cove is near and dear to our hearts and the public would like an input into what is planned at the public beach. From this current plan, I do like the planned sidewalk and extra bathroom if it does not interfere with the current trees on site. We go to the beach to enjoy the sand under our feet, so spending money on walkways are not necessary. The public also made their feelings heard loud and clear at the last meeting: no cabanas,” he added.
Many people who are active in trying to protect the remaining beaches on Grand Cayman that have not been developed and that the public can still access used social media to advocate for the cove to remain as it is. They said government should do only the bare minimum to it as they believe its natural beauty cannot be enhanced. Some suggested that the plans made the cove look like an amusement park, while others said government should leave well alone.
The Public Works Department, which is overseeing the proposed project, has not yet stated how much it will cost, nor has Conolly or Infrastructure Minister Joey Hew said why government is opting for what appears to be a much more extravagant redevelopment than the people wanted.
Many social media commenters urged the government to spend whatever it has in its budget on other more pressing matters and leave the beach exactly as nature intended.
See the tender documents here
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Category: development, Local News
Dear Barbara,
The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.
This quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower doesn’t apply to you. There’s no adherence to this type of thinking and action, I just thought you might like to read it. Perhaps it’ll make you think. You and any other elected politician and those that will be someday.
Please please please DO NOT tamper with our beautiful Smith Barcadere. I have been privileged to enjoy this natural wonder since I was 13 (now 53).
Leave it alone!!
Sweet baby Jesus!!! Is this April Fools Day already? WTF is wrong with government? Seriously how just how? Bunch of fools.
Why doesn’t this stupid government instead of trying to destroy what is already there, take this money and try to buy another beach somewhere else where the people can go and enjoy.
they have turned the only public beach we have on the SMB stretch into a wonderland for DART and commercial vendors.. They might as well start charging admission there.
We are in trouble folks if this is what the government sees as a priority right now..
People are starving on the streets. living in slums and children are going to school hungry…Enough of this crap now!!!
i don’t see many starving people in cayman….
You obviously live in a bubble or do not know the islands very well and where to go and see the many Caymanians living below the poverty line.
Ask any local to show you the real Cayman.
You and the government don’t see it because “out of site is out of mind.” There are many people that struggle everyday not just from lack of food but good health care. Poverty in Cayman is still kept in secret and a lot of these Caymanians are too proud to ask for a handout..
Do you ever venture outside of gated communities and expat bars? You clearly live in a bubble as someone else has said. I am an expat who has lived and mingled in the real community since arriving well over a decade ago. I have seen plenty of poverty first hand, yet you know what? These are the people who welcomed me into their houses and insisted I share what little food they had with me. They are there when I need a helping hand just as I hope what little I can do helps them. These people are closer and genuine friends than most I have come across in a lifetime. Get down of your pedestal and open your eyes, you will see.
Yes ! We need more beaches for locals (that are actually beaches not circuses)!
Sssshh. Please wait until after we have knocked down badly needed government housing and the police traffic unit to build a luxury weather station that we simply do not need to accommodate tens of civil servants that we simply do not need!
Lol
Don’t forget this is phase one of the Smith Barcadere redevelopment project.
Scary
Barbara, I am hoping that you are reading these comments and for God’s sake start listening to the people. You already know that the majority of your constituents were not in favor of the cruise port yet you came out endorsing it against their wishes.You had a meeting with your constituents and they told you they wanted to keep Smith Barcadere in its pristine state..Now you have come up with this crap to destroy it, again against their wishes…What the hell is wrong with you!!
Let me promise you one thing, you will no longer get my vote. Come May 2021, I will vote for a broomstick before I cast another X for you. You have been nothing but a let down and you continue just be another lackey in lock step with the government. I pray that you will come to your senses and start listening and doing what the people want. Turkeys, Hams and paving Windsor Park is not going to help you and believe me it is not just me in South Sound that feels this way.
GTS Voter.
We would have to be a real bunch of idiots to vote again for these morons, who wants to destroy everything in their path! For the love of God, try to leave some little thing for future generations to look at and know that’s how it’s been for years. This Unity team has done more to destroy the island than hurricane Ivan ever did. Hang your heads in shame, Barbara, Roy, and you other cut throats.
Once again these actions confirms how out of touch this government is from the residents and visitors. People like the natural state of the cove and there’s no need to destroy the trees/shrubs to pave it. Visitors spend thousands of dollars to enjoy the natural vegetation and coral reefs. Do you think they want to spend money to come and see a concrete jungle and dead coral? Why not preserve the little bit we got left and for the next generation? I think it’s time for this government to go!
Vote No!
Thanks Barbara, it looks great.
There’s a few rough edges on the ironshore that could use sanding down and a bit of shaping. A couple of spots need some dredging too, not a lot but just to make the bottom a bit less rocky. Also, where is the boat slip we were promised?
Other than that, awesome work!
What are you smoking ??
Every heard of sarcasm?
I wish these blasted politicians would dig a hole, fill it with cement and jump in. Sick of them; they don’t fix what is broken and destroy what is alright. The whole lot of them are SICKENIN !
They build theme parks trying to emulate the beauty of places like Smith Cove. Why do our politicians feel they have to take the natural beauty of Smith Cove and make it look like a theme park? The arch over the entrance looks like something you find on a cruise ship destination; man made and tacky.
Stop this foolishness. Stop continuing to destroy the little natural beauty that we we have left undisturbed. Set your greed and ego aside and leave it alone,
Looks like something that would appeal to a cheap cruise tourist. Wonder if all that parking is to accommodate a bus line up. Disgusting.
Lazy people are going to park alongside the road no matter what. Please move the rocks back so that most of the cars are not parked halfway into the road.
Its a wonder why Cayman Islands is not on the best beach list.
It’s already being used for commercial activity. There’s indoctrinations there all the time.
😂
HEAL!
Repent in the name of the almighty dollar!
Can I get an AMEN!
LEAVE IT ALONE!!! as is, where is…..perfect, in its natural beauty!!!
PLEASE – stop, stop the Disney-fication/Miami-ification of these islands…..Smiths Cove’s beauty rests on its reminder to us of more simple times….. they’ve already destroyed SMB and so called “PUBLIC” (aka “Dart’s”) Beach…..JUST STOP IT, LEAVE IT ALONE!!!
@5:13 well said!
I think it is time for an island wide march against this foolishness NOW.
Will this Government ever get anything right?
LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE!
The people don’t know what’s best.
Designed by Carnival approved by mugs built by foreigners
Why?
For sure another public meeting should be called to review these plans in detail before any action is taken.
Office and a car park on the sea side?? What?? WHY?
This is laughable. Can’t you people just leave well enough alone?????
Who gets the office??? WHY?
You cannot make this up..
When Barbara and David lose the next election I suppose they will set up an office there for them to count the number of visitors and collect venders fees from the vagrants that will be allowed to set up shops there. Anything that looks naturally organic will be dug up by these imbeciles and replaced with rubbish. FIX THE DUMP!!
Guess your GT politician is looking for her own monument….
not on my watch…I got enough people in South Sound willing to go down there and stand in front of that bulldozer..
Barbara, I have had enough of your foolishness now. You are useless to us in South Sound..
don’t ruin Smith barcadere………….I beg!
Preserved the Nature natural beauty. It made this way why change it. It’s been this way million years and so beautiful and beyond., why wanting of reshaping it.
‘Government has now drawn up plans without consultation that go well beyond what the public appears to want.’ Money talks? Someone stands to make a lot of money out of this – anyone out there know who it is?
Put a sidewalk out front for safety. Fix the bathrooms.
And leave it alone.
Boot the druggies and pickpockets.
Deport them! Many are not even from here!
EXACTLY, why waste the money only to ruin what’s already fabulous!
Fix the Bathrooms for who? The Philppinos & druggie Caymanians that bathe there or the Jamaicans that steal water to fill-up their Mobile car wash vans & disturb the peace continually? Or all of the above that steal Toilet paper & Paper towel and litter? Need an armed guard stationed there 24 hours a day. That’s what our Beloved Isle Cayman has come to. Stop giving Status and start revoking it..
Hiring a guard seems more reasonable than destroying nature..
Leave nature alone, but just stop littering.
Wtf is this? If it na broke don’t fix it?! Who’s with us??
Barbara has no say other than when she says her rehearsed yeas, or nays in the LA., peep peep cluck cluck according to the PPM’s agenda!! She doesn’t have a clue about anything else.
That’s the last nail in the coffin for Barbara’s political career.
So Barbara said she was representing her Constituents when she supported the Port in the LA even though she never asked or held a meeting asking their opinion , with the majority against the Port. Now this. Listen to your people. No to this and no to the Port. Wake up.
Over my dead body.
– Born and raised South Sounder.
Why can’t anything in Cayman be left in its natural, pristine state. All Government needed to do was to secure the Smith Cove property, which they did. No need for all the “bells and whistles”, which apparently no none but those seeking re-election wants!
Leave Smith Cove as it is!!
I don’t know, a revamp and a clean up is welcome. The place is always full of trash…. that’s not natural.
Organize a clean up every weekend!!
Now that’s the one thing Barbara is good at!!
Omg. Dartbots get everywhere.
Why can’t these people just leave this beach alone?! Smith’s Cove needs upgraded washrooms and… that’s it! Why waste more public money?! This angers me to no end that the government just up and does stuff without notifying the public first. It’s a disgrace and I hope this government gets what’s coming to them next election. The cruise port is equally stupid as well. These no good, do nothing idiots that run the show here can go straight to hell for all I care. You can’t take your money with you, you mouth breathing, oxygen wasting cabbages.
Do not talk bad about cabbage. Much nutrients!
Gross. Looks like a carnival.
I’m surprised (or am I?) that there have been no complaints about this from the owners of the ‘Munster Mansion’ that overlooks Smith Cove. I wonder who the contractor will be?
Starts with DEC and ends with CO.
The Munster mansion peeps will be able to sell a few nails I guess! Every little bit helps.
So, we are going to replace the dirty bush, trees, and scrubs WITH upper class concrete cemented slabs. WHY CAN’T WE JUST LEAVE NATURE ALONE. If you want a larger car park, do it on the other side, not the sea side.
Please tell me Dart is not involved with this project
A friend is visiting Grand Cayman. He said it took him a couple of days to get over the shock of how built up Grand Cayman is, looking so FortLauderlale-ish. Not what he expected at all he said.
When enough is enough?
Please, no more concrete at the cove, let’s appreciate the natural beauty. CIG are already laying down more blocks and concrete in the park in front of the law court building, trees providing shade are a better option.
Outrageous! Hands off Smith Cove!
utter nonsense. Please leave Smith Barcadere alone.
I was at that meeting regarding the so-called enhancement ideas being proposed for Smith Barcadere and the attendees all wanted it left pretty much alone. The government reps present told us emphatically that nothing would be done without further consultation. Now this! I am disgusted and disappointed…to say the least. I sign my name because I am passionate that this beach site be left as is. CAROL HAY.
I really want to know when the last time Barbara Connolly had a beach day was. There is no way any lover of beaches would put forward that junk.
Looking easy votes! She is finished politically anyways so she might as well give up. Her support of the port and now this fiasco shows she is but a PPM puppet. KTs coattails won’t help her this time
Another project for her to put her name to. Leave it alone. God’s plan is best.
Vote them all out. The PPM and Barbara have lost their minds!!!!!!!!
Just Another Day in Absurdistan
Just another day In Dartistan.
Barbara Connolly must be trying to lose her seat in 2021 or just crazy. Please have another public meeting and consider the view of the voters you are elected to represent. Do not be so stubborn and follow the Premier by getting voted out of office because of party loyalty.
I understand that the pied piper won’t be running for election so I guess they have all pledge allegiance to leave with him in one fell swoop.
Oh Happy Day
what a tragedy.! is this all Government can find to do with their time and energy !
We want a few more parking spots. That’s it. That’s all we need, thank you.
Leave it alone! One of my favourite experiences is getting up at dawn on a clear, calm day and going to swim out from Smith Cove. It really clears your head of all the **** that goes on here.
I have an idea, why don’t the voters in the area get together and hold a meeting, invite your representatives and tell them they cannot do it. You have the power. Failing that get The Action man from the Far East to roll up there on his backhoe.
This is one of the last natural public beaches on this side of the island that locals can enjoy.
Do not turn it into some crappy tourist spot.
Leave it alone, nature needs no embellishments!