Battle on to save beach access from Dart PAD
(CNS): Various activist groups in West Bay came together last week to launch a campaign to prevent what could be as many as three dozen beach and shoreline access points in the district being lost through the latest proposed Dart mega-development. The islands’ largest landowner is proposing another ‘new town’ style project straddling the Esterley Tibbetts Highway and has submitted a PAD for consideration. The proposal will have a massive impact on West Bay, and having learned hard lessons from their failed battle to save the West Bay Road on a technicality, this time campaigners have drawn up an objection letter that residents can sign and send to planning right away to ensure their voices are heard as the legal process around the development begins.
The planned area development (PAD) was submitted to the planning department earlier this month and opens a small window of opportunity for residents across the islands to submit their objections to it. This will ensure that the authorities will be required to keep those who have signed and submitted a letter of objection informed of the progress of the application. While the act of objecting at this stage has little legal weight, it will make it more likely that each stage remains in the public domain and more difficult for deals to be made behind closed doors.
The project has already begun with a closed door presentation after the only public details of the PAD application were posted in a small public notice in the print media and a press release with few details on the Dart Group’s website. But two invitation-only meetings were held earlier this month at the Camana Bay Cinema for prospective tenants, where the developer gave a lot more details.
There is no doubt that this is a significant development proposal, encompassing 157 acres and dozens of parcels of land. The letter activists are asking people to submit or at least use as a template for their own objections lists a catalogue of issues with the proposal for the new town, which Dart has said will comprise hotels, residential and commercial ventures as well as canals, including one that will pass under the Esterley Tibbetts Highway.
The activists are worried about the loss of the last remaining stretch of mangroves on the western side of Grand Cayman and the implications that this has for the health of the North Sound, the survival of the marine life and the loss of protection from storm surge on a very narrow point of the island. The creation of a new marina on what was the Kaboo festival site connected via canal to the developer’s existing North Sound marina add to concerns about the damage that will be done to property by future storms and the dangers it would pose.
But a significant problem for local activists is the risk to around 36 beach and coastal access points. Many of those involved in this new campaign are already active in trying to address many other lost rights of way or those at risk, including several that were blocked by other Dart developments and remain the subject of a difficult court battle.
During the meeting last week Alice Mae Coe, one of several women who spearheaded the West Bay Road campaign and has for years been trying to fight in court for beach access rights, explained some of the challenges they have faced in these battles.
The public is being denied access to beaches all over the islands unlawfully, she explained, but the government has failed to register the rights of way. While they continue that specific fight with the government, they are also trying to take on other fights where developers, and in particular Dart, have managed to get access points closed when securing planning permission. But the courts have been reluctant to award legal aid in the cases because they are not considered to be in the wider public interest.
Nevertheless, the women have continued on where they can with the struggle to get legal aid to fight these costly cases, often against the country’s richest investors and government.
“The Central Planning Authority has historically failed to take into account the ongoing court battles,” Coe said at the meeting, as she pointed to five hundred affidavits submitted to government outlining the details of beach access that should be registered formally as vehicular and pedestrian rights of way in Grand Cayman. “If this PAD is approved as presented, it will continue to bolster developers’ many and continual attempts to block and extinguish, by any means possible, both registered and unregistered accesses that generations of Caymanians have used,” she warned.
In this case Coe detailed why she and many others have real concerns about the development that she said will bring no benefit to West Bay. She also pointed out that no reasons have been outlined why this project is necessary, given the toll it will take on the district’s natural resources and its residents’ way of life.
Several dozen people turned up the first meeting to get the campaign up and running. A number of signed letters were submitted directly, while others who attended were urged to take the letters home and sign them before submitting them directly by hand to planning. The deadline for objections is Friday but Coe urged people to submit the letters well before them, as she pointed out the massive challenge that is now in the hands of residents if they want to preserve access to the beach in the district in the future.
While objecting to a PAD carries little specific legal weight, the number of objections and the strength of opposition will have an impact. It is also the only time the wider population can make their objections heard and ensure the project remains in the public eye.
Dart’s plans for the entire development remain vague but the developer will be required to submit planning applications for each separate development. However, because the radius of landowners allowed to submit formal objections to any planning application is so restricted, few will be in a position to object to any of the individual projects that will be part of this PAD. It will be important for the community to stay engaged with the wider application in order to protect natural resources and coastal access.
For more information and to download a copy of the objection letter, go to
Cayman Beach Watch.
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Category: development, Local News
I’d rather have DART here than not. What would your “beautiful Islands” be without him?
The beach is crown land up to high water mark. If there are not enough access points, all you have to do is insist there are more. Do not stop job creating development over silly arguments. Personally I find the empty land near Kimpton an eyesore. DART’s plans need careful and unhysterical analysis, but at least someone is doing something positive, Are we proud of dilapidated and messy George Town? Who is doing something about that? Cruise tourists spend relatively little per person per visit. Look at the stats. Stay over tourism (hotels, Airb$B etc.) are the big win. Who kept his hotels open as long as possible during the pandemic? Dart. Give them a little slack. And I like the idea of a yacht harbour. Do you realise that Cayman is the second largest register of mega yachts in the world after France? Yet not one comes here. Because there is nowhere for them to “park”. These mega yacht owners spend BIG TIME. Think bigger my brothers and not always knee jerk objections.
One question: Who are we developing for?
Because it sure isn’t for Caymanians.
11:47 am Precisely !! And the Ritz canal….there are others I’m sure.
our legislators can pass a law..no caymaero can own more than 30% of total land area…keep control ….but that wont happen now will it PPM???
caymanians will be wking alongside indians and phillipinoes…all for dart…thank you ppm!
Let’s play a game: How many spelling and capitalization errors can one make in a 14-word statement and still be taken seriously? You managed seven – an impressive 50% error average – but alas, I can’t take you seriously.
I only saw 6
it’s 7 actually
I counted “phillipinos” as two – capitalisation and spelling errors. However, I only counted ppm as one, even though all three letters should have been capitalised.
Caymanians brought the Indians and Filipinos here themselves.
You can add the Chinese if Mac is premier again…God forbid.
It is privately bought land and a private buyer should have a right to develop it.
You alarmist people (the vocal minority) need to calm down. The conceptual plan filed with planning, together with drawings, looks like a good development. The canals are nothing imposing. Here is the link:
https://www.planning.ky/site_plans/pad21-0001/
From the rational, silent majority.
Thanks for the link. I broadly agree but on those plans the glaring issue is the pedestrian and bike paths don’t continue along the beach like they do in front of the Kimpton. Fix that and I’d support it.
Yea they do
Yes they do
If you own land on both sides of a public road you do not have the right to close a public road. A gazetted right-of-way for beach access has the same legal rights for the public.
Which gazetted right of ways are they proposing to close? Show them to us on a map please.
They are not gazetted, they are just allegations. Just because there is a space between the sea grape trees and you camped there one time does not make it a beach access.
Good points 2:46
Correct. There are NO legally registered or gazetted public rights of way along the stretch of vacant land north of the Kimpton. Therefore no foul. When a development application (eg hotel or condos) for the seaside parcels is lodged with Planning, then the CPA has the authority to require public rights of way to the sea be registered on title.
You not gonna have luck with one Bobo. Dart and govt been in deals for years to delay gazetting or reinstating public beach accesses just to get to this point.
During the dock debate you all insisted that upscale tourism was the answer to mass cruise tourism, correctly in my opinion. Now that we have the chance to permanently reduce our reliance on the cruise lines and have a realistic proposal to move forward with an upscale product you don’t want that. NIMBY much? Either you want tourism or you don’t. Make up your minds.
No, we want to turn Grand Cayman into an eco-resort. People will pay big bucks to escape pollution, noise and overcrowding. They want bare feet in sand experience.
Right now Grand Cayman is over polluted, overcrowded, overdeveloped, noisy and toxic.
10:33 a.m. Do you not think that Dart knows how to do its homework to determine where the demand comes from? High-end land-based tourism sure beats the non-eco friendly low-end cruise tourism.
There is a huge difference between tourism and unsustainable development!
CAVE people – Citizens Against Virtually Everything.
More like Caymanians Against Voracious Exploitation.
7:24 a.m. Great points !
Cayman People: Yes you can buy my land on the beach
Dart: Thanks
….10 years later
Dart: on MY land I would like to build something
Cayman People: No you can’t do that
Dart: Huh?
Cayman People: We regret our decision and feel like we missed an opportunity. Plus we love the beach now apparently even though only about 1% of us actually use Public Beach more then once a quarter.
Vote Mac,Alden and the whole Unity Team out. #voteforchange2021cayman
This development is going to be a multigenerational asset and heritage to the Cayman Islands. It will bring revenues for government, stamp duties from sales and leases import duties and unimaginable downstream opportunity to our nation. There is no reason to object to this. Go to the Kimpton or Camana Bay today, there are half a scores of ways to the water. There is nearly half a mile of beachfront walkway along Seven Mile that is open to the public with a 10 foot wide walkway and access to each side, completely pen to the public. Trying to stop Dart when they have shown how passionate they are about making Cayman better for all Caymanians is nothing but selfish act of immaturity. The loudest objections come from those who do not live here and those too cowardly to identify themselves by name.
You are young and impressionable, one day you will wake up and realise your naivety.
Ok Boomer
You are just ignorant.
Spot on
“those too cowardly to identify themselves by name.”
Thanks Anonymous Ebanks?
Says the Anonymous Dart employee
Love it or not, the Dart Group are net providers to our economy here. Not all of us benefit, and certainly not directly, but they do create a lot of ‘trickle down’ cash flow even for us little people. Also, with the large vision, it entices global investors to our shores. Overall, Dart is a net positive for Cayman.
However – despite all the lovely buildings, the frankly ridiculous but amazing CIS school facility and many other investments, i wonder if there’s a way to stop Dart from redeveloping that ‘Kaaboo’ site? The only reason i ask is because as many of us realize, there’s simply no public beach worthy of the name anymore.
this isn’t even about now, it’s about the future. SMB is for all intents and purposes gone for locals and non-wealthy residents.
Is there not a way that Government (or some unknown philanthropist!) could buy Darts land back at the Kaaboo and grant it in perpetuity to the people? Create an incredible public beach area and related facilities?
Before its too late? Government could issue a bond to buy it, say – $300M….and we could all invest in it, along with Dart himself probably.
THere’s always a way. Before its gone. I’m not anti-Dart, but i am anti-smb closure which is what’s happening.
Just a thought.
I am anti – 50 storey buildings in the Seven Mile Beach Corridor.
I am Anti – over 7 story buildings… When they raised it for the Ritz, I think it was, that was when I knew we’d lost it. And that it wouldn’t stop there.
So, not really sure why they EVER had a moratorium for the first however many years…
Wonder if maybe Bermuda should lift their moratorium on the number of cars per family?? Like, what do you people think the eFing point of a moratorium is????
Talk about being ignorant. You call it greedy, I call it ignorant. And we can all point to a very few number of people responsible.. .You know who you are.
Me too. Let’s make them 70 storeys!
Whys is this Dart’s problem? CIG has allowed Public Beach to turn into a complete gong show with its stacks of rotting beach chairs and people offering massages for $10.
All of the beach access issues lie at the feet of CIG who have been completely delinquent over the last 30 years in protecting Cayman’s greatest assets.
6:30 pm you are correct
Trickle down economics has been shown to be absolute rubbish and especially over the last ten years. Basically it results in hoarding of resources at the top and depriving the people at the bottom from ever working their way up.
Trickle down economics has a deservedly bad rep but this isn’t a closed economic system. Dart’s money came from abroad. He’s spent the best part of a $billion here. It’s not trickle down economics it’s FDI; foreign direct investment and every other country on earth is desperate for it.
Apart from the ones who kicked him out…..
Some of them now begging for him to come back.
That’s what they told you in your last Q1 meeting? Anonymous DART employed charlatan?
Ok, I’ll bite. Show us where it’s “shown to be absolute rubbish” over the last 10 years in the Cayman Islands.
3:32 pm you raise valid points about the need for a public beach however the existing public beach was improved by dart per governments wishes but government has seen fit to let it fall into disrepair. The same thing would happen if government was granted more public beach land
What?? He brought in nasty sand from another country! Fool. It is not like our lovely white sandy beaches… I am actually embarrassed if people think that is how our beaches really are.
12:34 pm the source of sand is just but one factor, but, since you raised it, it was the Cayman Government that approved the importation and placement of the sand you speak of. NOTHING at Public Beach was done without consultation with and approval from the Cayman Government.
You made good comment worthy of attention. SMB was the ONE and ONLY valuable asset that Grand Cayman had. It is gone now. Half a mile is all that is left.
I don’t know what can be done now. But I do know that if a single person who allowed this to happen is elected again, the territory should be renamed to The Islands of the Dumbest Fools.
There’s also the Dump that keeps growing.
I thought the North Sound was one of Cayman’s treasured assets? If not, why was there such an uproar when McKeeva wanted to dredge it out for a mega yacht marina and oil refinery?
This is what happens when time finds the land that time forgot.
👍👍👍
My fellow Caymanians I believe the time for words are over. As the old people used to say ‘if you can’t hear, you’ll feel’. We have been shouting long enough and these fools in power are not hearing us. It’s time for action. Drag these fools out of “Parliment” and hold them accountable to the people on the steps of that once great building.
DRAIN THE SWAMP!
2.57 Thats the biggest problem
Good idea! Once it’s drained, you can fill it and build 50-storey buildings. Brilliant!
36 access points? It’s this kind of nonsense that ruins any slivers of credibility these groups may have once had.
You cry babies need to just shut up! Mr. Dart only does great quality developments and this will be world class. You bums do not deserve to be allowed onto the beach anyway smoking weed and drinking. CPA will put it thru and Dart will build it. Thank you Premier Alden!
Go back under your bridge troll, the billygoats are gone.
HA HA HA; all of you will see as soon as the CPA chairman and deputy chairman put it thru as all materials come from one major source and roofs are handled by a preferred contractor. Conflict of interest you might say, nope just quality. This is the best place money can buy! Where else does a certain developer get to skip out owning the goverment millions but then be granted more deals on another new questionable project? Keep the same bunch in power and this will continue.
If anyone wanted to know what it meant to be a Troll… Right here.
Wow! So now Caymanians that have the interest to preserve SMB are now bums?
You may not think this i a big deal but right now, there is not one place to sit on SMB to watch the sunset without paying $12+ 15% grat for a simple drink. And even Burgers start at $15!
Go on. Try it. Then try it again in one year.
Cayman this is ALL on you/your neighbors/friends/relative/parents that have sold every single bit of what makes this place paradise.
Name the places. I’ll wait.
I prefer to bring my own drinks
Hopefully, you’re not one of those that leave your trash behind.
This is garbage. You can sit anywhere on 7mb and watch the sun set without buying anything. You obviously never go to the beach. Quit whining.
1:02 pm You can sit ANYWHERE along SMB, either on vacant beaches or in front of developed properties. And yes, you can bring your own drinks !! Governors Beach, Public Beach are 2 that come to mind as vacant, but there are plenty of access points from GT to WB where you can get to the beach and enjoy the sunrise, sunset and the water. Get a grip.
Bye Bye tourists. The one true thing we could brag about is now being ruined at the whim of a sell out gov and billionaire. VOTE the right ones in please!
12:36 The Right Ones in, will soon learn that CAYMAN is RUN by BIG MONEY, not BIG TALK!
10 yrs from now there will be no government…just dart…whether this is good…i dont know….remember world richest man the other day in mexico…carlos simms…meanwhile over 100 million in poverty?
It will be war before that happens.
Whole expanses of the beach are now a just shambles of ugly huts and deck chairs, from the most expensive condo/hotel properties to the public areas. Evidently wealth, or the lack of it, has no bearing on class or good taste. Such a shame to see the crown jewel of Cayman trashed in this way. Do CITA and DOT not see any of this?
Many Caymanian homes and property were flooded during Ivan, and some people came close to drowning. It is madness to even consider bringing the North Sound nearer to us via another canal. We are destroying the protection God provided us, the mangroves and the
Ironshore. Don’t blame foreigners, they can only do what the CPA and other regulatory bodies allow them to do. Obviously they all have some where else to go when Cayman is in ruins.
Oh please, stop with the protection God provided us with. Deep down you must know that’s BS fairy story stuff.
Says the person that arrived after Ivan and after everything was repaired…
The idea that mangroves do anything to protect land during hurricanes like Ivan is nonsense. You’re just repeating an old wives’ tale like the one about putting tape on your windows before a storm is a good idea.
No fairy tale, dumbo.
Any ecological study on hurricanes can tell you mangroves limit storm surge.
I was here, I fixed your shit for you while you were off living the high life a foreign. The mangroves did sweet FA to protect anything.
Proposed canal looks about the same distance from 7MB as the Crown owned “Hyatt canal”, your alarmist argument holds no water.
11:13 I think you have a MASK over your eyes!
And now that Kenneth says he’s happy to work with Mac, also watch Dart’s new bought and paid for government with Mac as premier, do Dart’s bidding.
Be careful who you vote for, the Progressives Devil you know us safer than the Devil you definitely don’t want.
,
Wtf are you talking about? None of the ministers or backbenchers of the Alden/McKeeva government did as much as to condemn McKeeva’s disgusting behavior, or even sign the no-confidence motion against him.
11:08 You don’t even know, you are in PARADISE!
I do know that, just trying to keep it that way , without Mac.
You want this situation to change Cayman. You Have to vote for it! Wednesday 14th of April 2021 Make the change Cayman.
I’ve yet to hear a candidate speak on the topic of overdevelopment and mass immigration. It’s always the same rhetoric of Education, Employment, Cost of Living…
Dart and other developers will always provide the supply if the demand is there. Change starts by addressing the root cause of the problem.
1.45 you will not hear any of those topics mentioned by the upcoming McKeeva government.
What you will hear from Mac is the need to increase to 100,000 population, 50 story condos, and of course a new cruise pier to be built by Mac’s friends ….The Chinese.
I’m so scared , I’m voting Progressives again as insurance against MacBeater.
“I’m voting Progressives again as insurance against MacBeater”
How’d that work out last time?
5:21 At the least you know what Mac is about!
For the past five election cycles, including this one, the best reason the PPM/Progressives can give us for voting for them is fear of McKeeva. But then in the end, they’re shown to be made of the same cloth. I’d rather take my chances with someone new than be bamboozled with lies again.
Watch for all that inconvenient beach rock to get dredged out too.
They didn’t do that before so what has changed that they would do it now? Had they not been, quite rightly, prevented from doing so before there would be a Four Seasons on the site already!
As for these 36 “access points”; between the Kimpton and Sundowner condos? It’s open access all the way along. Are they counting all the trees and saying there’s an access point either side of each tree? Do these activists imagine there will be no access to this development and no access to the beach from there? I don’t get the objection at all. Let’s see the plan and we can see if there is sufficient access or not.
You must be oblivious to the way Dart operates. Dart has a 50 year plan, probably a 100 year plan for their Cayman sandbox. They announce something which seems outrageous at the time, they wait for the controversy to die down, then they get the laws changed to suit their needs, then they implement what they want.
Announce. Wait. Change the law. Implement.
If you don’t think the beach rock removal is coming, you live in a dream world. They want to have the PAD approved so when they go to remove the beach rock, they will claim it is a necessity for this project. I bet we see this ugly thing surfacing its head by the end of the year.
1:27 When you are EATING BEACH ROCK what dressing is
best!
Bye bye SMB.
And what about the beach access at 361 Conch Point Road will that disappear with the new Barkers Beach Resort.
Whatever floats certain developers botes.
Made a fuss about Boggy Sands when it suited.
The Access at 361 Conch Point Road will obviously stay and be used for generations to come. It will be an emergency fire lane and also a walk way to our Public Beach Bar and Restaurant.
Thanks Morne Botes. info@BarkersBeach.com
7:18 pm Correct
Conveniently ignoring that however.
The rocks have to go so that the rich people with caterpillar tracked boats can drive straight over the beach and into the sea. Some fellow is already doing this. Apparently no one at DOE has noticed the boat parked under a tree for all to see.
Photo please.
Details please… Otherwise you are another Troll.
Just say where exactly ad there will be someone there to document since you are too lazy to do anything about it yourself.