CPA directs ‘beach’ to stay in North Side

| 08/07/2021 | 12 Comments
DoE photo of the Rum Point site on 5 May 2021, showing the piles of sands

(CNS): The controversial request by Joe Imparato, the developer behind the Rum Point Club in North Side, to move a large pile of sand excavated from that site to his new development in West Bay has been partially declined. However, the original requirement that excavated sand be returned to the North Side site has been changed to allow it to be moved to another location in the district.

Following a Central Planning Authority meeting in May, a decision was made by the board to allow the stockpiled sand to be distributed across several nearby parcels, as the members said this complied with the Development and Planning Regulations.

The DoE had raised concerns regarding the original request to move the beach quality sand to West Bay for a proposed artificial beach at Dolphin Point Club because that is an ironshore coastline, not a beach.

“Beach quality sand is a rare commodity on-island and the use of such sand in artificial areas would not be an appropriate use,” the department had said, as they urged the CPA to ensure this sand remained in the ecosystem from which it was taken, since consistency, composition and grain size is already known to be compatible with the marine environment in this area.

The sand will now be distributed across four other beachfront parcels in the area. Planning officials explained to CNS that the decision was a “modification of the construction operations plan”. The sand had been taken from the beach at the location of Rum Point Club and stockpiled on nearby parcels, where it will now remain.

After the application to move the sand to West Bay was made by the owners of Rum Point Club, the new owner of the neighboring lots where the sand was located had approached the applicant to purchase the sand in order to beautify the lots, the planning official explained.

The CPA determined this was acceptable as there was no place left on the original shoreline to deposit the sand.

Year after year significant amounts of beach sand in Cayman is excavated to make way for coastal development and the DoE consistently urges developers to ensure that sand is returned to the beach where it was taken. However, much of it is lost during the process and it is often moved elsewhere, adding to the challenge of rapidly increasing coastal erosion.

See the minutes of the CPA meeting and the details of this application in the CNS Library (scroll down to Rum Point Club)


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Category: development, Local News

Comments (12)

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  1. WBW Czar. says:

    What utter nonsense! Joe owns the sand and he should be able to do as he sees fit with it!

  2. Anonymous says:

    A conveyor belt system could have easily been established to put in all on the beach, where it should be. Erosion of sand along that coast is significant.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Mr Imparato please donate the sand or sell for half half price to refurbish Kaibo Public Beach it would greatly appreciate it

    • Anonymous says:

      So it can get sucked in to the sound where the rest of it went? No thanks.

    • Anonymous says:

      Well now you see, the Planning Minister also happens to be the representative for North Side and Uncle Joe has a few things he’d like to get done up there so…

    • Anonymous says:

      11:42 Kaibo is a man-made beach that has faced erosion problems for years. It would be an utter waste to move the sand there. It would be eroded and swept away in no time..

  4. Anonymous says:

    Now the CPA needs to retroactively decline the placing of sand on iron shores for the rest of the island. Make the other developers remove the sand at their own cost to where it originated.

  5. Anonymous says:

    All my beaches are in NS

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