Developer wants to move beach from NS to WB
(CNS): The developer of the Rum Point Club in North Side and Dolphin Point Club in West Bay wants the Central Planning Authority to change the planning approval conditions on the Rum Point project to allow the removal more than 1,200 cubic yards of original sand excavated there to make way for the luxury condo project. He then wants to move the sand to the West Bay site in order to create an artificial beach at that location. The conditions for the Rum Point development included the requirement to keep and reuse the original sand at the site to replenish the beach after construction.
However, according to letters sent to planning, the developer claims that there isn’t any space to return the sand to the beach now that the condos are complete. The application to amend the conditions of approval are due to be considered by the CPA next week.
In its submissions to the planning board, the Department of Environment urged it not to allow this to happen. The DoE experts said that if the developer finds it impossible to put the increasingly rare commodity back where it came from, it should be placed nearby and not transported to Dolphin Point, which is ironshore and not a beach.
“The DoE does not support the relocation of this beach quality sand to the proposed artificial beach sites at the Dolphin Point location… which is an ironshore coastline,” the department said. “Beach quality sand is a rare commodity on-island and the use of such sand in artificial areas would not be an appropriate use of the sand. The department strongly recommends that the sand remains in the beach system from which it was taken as consistency, composition and grain size is already known to be compatible with the marine environment in this area.”
If the sand cannot be placed back where it came from, it must then be re-distributed elsewhere within the Rum Point or Kaibo area, the DoE said.
The project, which is one of Joe Imperato’s portfolio of luxury tourism developments, has stirred up controversy since work began in 2017. At that time, the coastline was cleared with machinery without the requisite permission. However, the CPA later granted after-the-fact permission.
Since first receiving planning permission for a tourism development at Rum Point as far back as 2009, the developer has been granted numerous changes and modifications. But the need to retain the natural beach sand has remained a condition of the now finished project.
Despite having been granted approval on that basis, in a letter to the CPA the developer said it had now “become apparent that there is not enough space for a portion of the excavated sand to be relocated to the site”.
And facing pressure from neighbours to clear up the place from the impact of construction, including the leftover sand from the excavation to create a basement, the developer is hoping the authority will allow him to use the high quality natural sand from North Side to create an artificial beach at the site of Imperato’s next project as a way of solving both of his problems.
See application for sand removal on the CPA agenda in the CNS Library.
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Category: development, Local News
At this point i welcome another ivan just so we can get wipe the slate clean of all these places that have been built too close to shore.
Yep. Have to agree with you 12:31. We deserve what we are eventually going to get due to our total stupidity on building places too close to shore.
None of you seemed to complain when Joe have you CUC, Galleria Plaza, started Meals on Wheels, West Shore, the first cinema in Cayman, Luca where you all flock for brunch in undersized dresses, sponsored the breast cancer gala first, and cleared west bay road with his equipment in the days after Ivan?
So that gives Joe a license to do as he wants on the island..You do know that Joe does nothing for free..When was the last time you went to Luca for brunch and got something free or try to rent a unit at Galleria?
For your edification Meals on Wheels was a large project of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman and was embarked upon when Larry Chomyn was its President. It was solely Larry’s idea. Kudos where Kudos are due.
Several Rotarians such as Past President and star fund raiser Derek Haines, ex AG Richard Coles and Tim Adam are still assisting in this programme to day. Ironically they are all senior citizens.
10:37pm no matter what good he may have done.
This is simply one sick idea.
It’s like saying that because Mac did some good in his political career that he should get a free pass to beat up a woman.
Thatis so true, just let the money master’s do what they want and we all will live happily ever after.
How did he get the first cinema, we had one in West Bay years ago.
I recall the old owners of that cinema included Benson Ebanks and Moxie Whitney the famous Canadian bandleader.
I recall the first Cinema was open air and downtown near Bush Plaza on North Church Street.
21/05 @10:37am – “the first Cinema in Cayman…? Please go back into whatever hole you live in!!
The Cinema which Joe Imparato BOUGHT was in existence for decades – previously owned by Mr. Julian Rifkin, Benson Ebanks and partners. Prior to that from the mid-50s, there were:
1. 2 cinemas in West Bay owned by Benson & Graham Ebanks and Henry Rivers, esepctively;
2. 2 cinemas in GT, owned by Berkley Bush and Thomas Seymour, respectively;
3. 2 cinemas in BT, owned by Cynthia Watler/Berkley Bush & Buddy Wood (the Drive-in Cinema) respectively.
4. Meanwhile, Mr. Pouchie regularly showed movies upstairs his store in East End.
5. BB Grant operated a cinema in Cayman Brac!
No problem with you defending Mr. Imperato’s contributions but please be ACCURATE!
Thomas Seymour also had a Cinema in West Bay.
I get so F#$%en tired of hearing “CPA granted after-the-fact permission.” Here are the facts. After the fact permission is an accepted way to do business and variances are the norm not the exception. PACT, it is way past time to change the composition of the CPA.
Well said 1.00pm.
Too. Any people forget the good bits. Thank you Joe.
Not today, Bobo.
Thank you for that. And I agree with you there.
I feel that the generations now I think are losing hope and we must find a way to restore that. We seem to be developing the Island at a rate so fast and for so many other people and nations, that our identity is a mere shadow, cheap distorted photocopy of what it once was.
But still we must push for a change.
Little Cayman Shadow Minister
Ower and Out
Owner and out too. Other nations teach your skills
Can he also move that eyesoar on the property in front of Healthcity in East End!
EyeSORE
When a storm comes and takes some of the beach that is there they will not be able to replenish it unless they keep what was there in the first place.
Cayman islands is one person working and thousands commenting on how they could do it better.
Is Caymans plan to just kill off all development now that Caymanians got theirs? Asking for a friend.
Yes!
Tell your friend they can always stay where they are and develop something in there own country.
THEIR
4.36 THEIR what?. So there.
Who said Caymanians got any?
Who are we developing for? Expats.
He could cover the ironshore at Dolphin Point with shredded tires from the dump and start a new trend.
Hola Jay stop listening to your BFF he is going make you his B!#@% and end your Political career in disgrace or prison either way you won’t end up as speaker twice I can tell you that for sure! Stop playing footsie with tootsie Bush it will not end well.for you just ask your predecessor about that ? You are no exception trust me !
We can only remove about 6 buckets of sand from the beach.Why allow so much to be removed. As for after the fact applications this need to be removed from the law. This only allows to encourage the breach when the crime has been created.Do away with it and impose a serious penalty which will give those breaching the law a good lesson.
I’ll repost this timeline story as presented by
‘Anonymous from Rum Point’on 21/08/2017 at 5:39 am:
“The Rum Point Club Condominiums has a storied history…and the story is always poor. With apologies for length…
1) Initial request for 5 storeys declined; developer told to submit plans for three storeys. Developer ignores CPA request and resubmits 5 storey plan indicating “economically unfeasible” at 3 storeys (which should not be of concern to CPA); application approved at meeting held without knowledge of many Objectors;
2) As ground is broken, three independent surveys (including CI government Lands and Surveys) indicate setbacks are being violated – significantly; CPA told by Attorney General it may not consider the setback issue as part of Objections to development (no reason given to Objectors by AG’s office who indicates this is a matter for Appeal…BEFORE a decision has been made, BEFORE! How can one known an appeal will be required BEFORE one knows the outcome of an Application?);
3) Developer is reported several times to be dumping foreign materials into Marine Park; is prohibited from continuing by Department of Environment;
4) Developer provides plans for Modification which show violation of registered easements; Modification approved subject to easements;
5) Plans never provided that indicate easements are not being violated – currently those easement are being ignored and site plans show they will be ignored;
6) Developer places fence in the middle of fire/emergency lane, is forced by Fire Department to remove and replace where required;
7) Developer excavates property and moves sand to create a 25’-30’ high mound, 100’+ long, hampering views of neighbours and making seaside land almost unwalkable. Mounds remain for over two years within the setbacks;
8) Developer has now destroyed significant amounts of protective ironshore without approval or license (presumably asking for forgiveness rather than permission) on land claimed to be, in real estate advertisements, 500’ of pristine beach (mysteriously increased from prior claims of 300’). Once again, developer is forced to stop illegal or unapproved actions.
By the way, a similar attempt to destroy this same ironshore was stopped dead in its tracks several years ago. So, what now? Of course, heavy fines should ensue.
Complete and utter disregard of rules/regulations/laws – both written and natural – call for severest of penalties; to do less continues the mockery of Developer and his attitude towards the people of the Cayman Islands. Thank you.”
Thank you.
But rum point club is a beautiful building? I think it looks great when I drive East, I love the cladding front. Agree 5 stories better than 7 but think it needs a restaurant to expand east end economically, north side excluding rum point club is still a bit downtrodden in my opinion. Kaibo food very poor
Your timeline. I imagine the developer would disagree
After Gilbert tons of sand washed away from further east along the coast and ended up at Rum Point; some on the northern side of the point, and most on western side of the point. Some might remember that it was possible to walk out for half a mile with water no more than knee high. So how about returning that sand to the beach along the coast startng at the Sea Lodges at Cayman Kai and moving west.
Hmmmm … and between the transport route, will other loads of sand be dropped off at other locations ???
No. Why would you drop sand elsewhere?
Because Joe has other properties along the way that he may need to drop a load or two..
Look around at the construction sites.
Clear out all the conflicted CPA members. Hardware salesmen, developers..all of them
Why would the private sector do this?
Oh but you all thought voting in PACT was going to make a difference….its more of the same.
Hoi! Jay Ebanks. We’ve got our beady eyes on you with this one.
Will be keenly watching how CPA handles this one now that Jay Ebanks is head of planning. Jay and Imparato are buddies. A party was hosted there last Christmas. Imparato got planning permission after the fact before so one can assume either someone said go ahead we will get the approval or simply Imparato doesn’t respect due process.
At this point you really have to wonder what’s the use of the DOE doing any project assesments if 9.5/10 the CPA rubber stamps every project.
Drop the sand at cayman kai public beach!
Throw some sand over rock and call it beachfront! Hahahaha!
Here’s someone that is basically allowed to do whatever he wants. Absolutely ridiculous. He’s already got allowance for set-backs for that NWP site like FIN.
What a joke this island is turning into.
Michael Ryan needs sand for his artificial beach at Fin. He will want more everytime it gets washed away in a storm. With each storm the sand from both projects will damage the coral.
Did Naul Bodden ever move all the sand back that he trucked out of South Sound when building the Tides? It was piled in Sunrise Landing for years…
That building can’t be safe to live in.
No kidding. That thing will be a mound of rust in the next 10 years.
There is still scaffolding around it, says it all (fall)!!
Preach!!
Please listen to DOE and DO NOT allow that sand to be moved to that west bay area.If there needed to be a beach there nature would have put one there in the first place.Sheeeez how many more freaking hair brained ideas do these developers want tocome up with.Enough is enough!!!!
The developers — local or foreign — don’t appear to revere the sanctity of natural resources as many of us do. Yes, I make money. I will NEVER be part of any project that damages nature or natural resources in a manner in which they cannot be reclaimed.
Would hope so.
Idiots, that’s a terrible idea.
If there is no space to put the sand back, how much bigger was this development to the plans that were initially summitted / approved by the CPA? They clearly exceeded what was to be developed and what to be replaced, is there an extra unit or 10 on this property now?
What’s next, to fill in the water and create more acreage at the Rum Point Club like Rene did at the top of South Sound?
We’re supposed to be a advanced species aren’t we, so why can’t we learn from everything we’ve already f^*#%<d up ? 🤦🏻♀️
We can. And have. Those with the big dollar signs in their eyes and dreams aren’t students of history, and probably wouldn’t heed those lessons if they were.
There is a very good reason why there is no sand at Dolphin Point and all his sand would be washed away in the first norwester.
It doesn’t look like the sand atRum Point Club is lasting too long either. It’s fast washing back to the ironshore underneath. The waterline was always rock there and the water was deep. There’s no way the sand can hold.
But in the meantime you can sell condos “with a beach.”
But after he had sold the condos?
Up next on “Bobo U Crazy Awa?”
Btw What happen to all that sand by smb….. saw dust grit awa? Yellow orange sand from which part? U want to take the sea too awa?
The yellow/orange/dirt faux sand is from South America from what I was told.
Horrible… Why would I go to that area when I can go to one with clean white sand?
Either that, or crusher fines from the Brac.
Premier you need to do something NOW!! The CPA is XXXX allowing developers to destroying our environment.
When we’ve turned paradise into a concrete parking lot, who do you think is going to want to come to Cayman?
If only one person with a brain cell WOULD listen. good grief, WHAT NEXT ????
How about that awful Mexican sand is removed from Public Beach(Seven Mile), and this sand is put down in its place???
People can’t use the upper part of Public Beach anymore as the imported sand is so hot and sticky.
Public Beach does not belong to the people of the Cayman Islands like it was intended. Sad times.
What do you mean anymore? the “upper part of Public Beach” was never anything more than parking lot and West Bay Road. The gazebos never had more than 40ft between them and the old parking lot, which had the road backed up next to it.
These whiners don’t like facts. They get in the way of their narrative.
I used to think Joe Imperato was one of the decent developers. I stand corrected…this is a ludicrous suggestion, and a poor attempt to deflect attention from his egregious flouting of the terms of his development approval. There is a reason there is no sand at the proposed Dolphin Point destination. Wind and waves and coastal geography decided that many millenia ago, and Joe the Imp can’t change that, even if he thinks like King Canute…
Do you mean the same Joe Imperato who had plans to move the dock and fuel storage tanks to East End? The word was that he already had plans for what to do with the millions of cubic yards of coastline dugout to hand the harbour over to government, so there can be little doubt that he had plans for that sand in North Side long before the first excavator started digging.
not sure why he didn’t do what he did last time and move it and apply for an after the fact permit later….. or just pay the $50 fine, or hell, just ignore the CPA altogether, seems like these are what works best in Cayman……
1:04 You and people like you are exactly what is wrong with this world.
I think he was being sarcastic… though there’s many a true word spoken in jest.
That’s called sarcasm
at least you got it.
No he’s not. He’s merely stating what is obvious to most of us, that the Big Boyz do what they want and pay a miniscule ATF fine afterwards. Look at the CPA minutes, and you’ll find repeat offenders that just factor the ATF fine into their cost of doing business.
Those ATF fines need to be punitive. The ATF fines should frighten the next exploitive company into thinking twice. The CPA is a dismal rubber stamp that needs flushing.
Bobo go buy some soutmerican sand na. Plant two Amond tree and two sea grape trees n be happy. If one deweloper moves that amount of sand…… the next set a wowlaz goin do it too. Next ting u know we got yellow orange mix up mix up and the only real sand we ga is the one left in somebody car.
It is funny how the eyes of a Caymanian of old sees these Islands as home, and a the eyes of those from afar see money and opportunity often convincing the indigenous to sell what is theirs or inflating prices to pressure the indigenous to release what lands they do have.
But dat sand sweet na true bloodz?
I am the little Cayman Shadow Minister and I support this hilarious message of wisdom and wisdumb terectly.
You and me would do just fine. I’ve been growing things all my life. I’ll take tha marl and sandy loam, though, and don’t need na sout’ American nothing.
PLANT two Almond trees? Good God, I spend much of my time killing the dang things — they reproduce faster than small town gossip.
You don’t worry about me, though, Mr. Shadow; a lean dog runs fast, don’t it?
I have old eyes, but I see our home as home, and opportunity — for those that come after us. What we have to do is protect what’s left for those who deserve a heritage. No investor steals the land — they pay top dollar. Every landowner has the right to sell or not as they please.
I think mostly that some of us have lost our vision, and think that it’s all going to hell anyway, so why not live large for the rest of their days? Leave their children money instead of land. I think we all need a dose of hope and a firm collective desire to not let our verdant isles get turned into Miami Beach. We must be more demonstrative to our government. We’ve been lax long enough.