Just two public meetings set to discuss EWA extension
(CNS): The National Conservation Council is expected to publish the completed draft terms of reference (ToR) for an environmental impact assessment of the controversial East-West Arterial Road extension on Monday. The ToR will form the subject of a public consultation process lasting 21 days that includes, so far, only two public meetings, one in North Side and the other in Savannah. The NRA has confirmed that their representatives and the EIA consulting team will attend to provide information and answer questions.
The first meeting will be on Tuesday, 7 February, at 6pm at the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, 923 North Side Road. The second will be in Savannah on Thursday, 9 February, at the CI Baptist Church Hall, 163 Pedro Castle Road. The public is also invited to submit comments from 30 January, after the document is made public, until 21 February, when the short window of opportunity for people to weigh in on the project will close.
The government believes that the road will make a significant difference to the morning commute for those living in the Eastern Districts and it has become a priority for the PACT administration. But some believe that there are many other issues causing the traffic chaos for residents east of George Town and numerous other ways to address it, especially given the significant environmental concerns about this road.
Those concerns relate to the impact of this extension, particularly beyond Woodland Drive in Bodden Town, where the highway is gazetted to cut across the Central Mangrove Wetlands. The construction of this road will destroy at least 174 acres of critical habitat and, even more controversially, put many more acres at risk because it will create access to land for development.
There are also concerns that by dissecting the mangrove habitat, the road could fuel further flooding in some parts of Bodden Town. All these issues will be up for discussion during the public meeting as important considerations for the ToR for the EIA. The draft terms of reference are expected to be on the DoE website Monday but copies will also be available for public viewing at district post offices and libraries as well as at the NRA office on North Sound Road.
Comments on the draft ToR can be submitted in writing to the Environmental Assessment Board
c/o the DoE via email DOE@gov.ky, post, or hand delivery to the
Department of Environment Office.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: development, Land Habitat, Local News, Science & Nature
What’s the matter, don’t want to drive up that side??!! Getting stuck in hours long traffic???! Does that bother some, that it’s so inconvenient to attend??!! Ha!
I’m confused. This affects the whole island… If they were really interested in public engagement you would think there would be more town meetings at more accommodating venues. One might be tempted to think that they don’t really want the publics input, they just want to create the impression that they do. Shady.
Thankfully the TOR report from an American company has been completed and is linked here for all to read.
You can drive to the meetings….
Myopia, greed, vanity and ecological illiteracy has driven Government and the rapid population growth.
We need leadership that will embrace views about Cayman’s population that are more in keeping with the needs of this generation, the needs of those who will come after us, and the needs of the many other species we have the good fortune to share these beautiful and fragile islands with.
Thoughts? 🤔
🟢Protect our environment
🟠Stop overdevelopment
🔴Stop duplicity
MORE CRITICAL ANIMAL HABITAT DESTROYED SO PROPERTY DEVELOPERS CAN CONNECT THEIR SPRAWLING MESS
The creatures that live in this area, the birds, the fish, the crabs, insects … will they move house? Will they know where to go? This area is also a huge flood catchment, where is stormwater going to go?
This should be a referendum question!!
Do we destroy the wetlands and our future to fix traffic or do we elect people with sense who have solutions.
Won’t fix traffic.
12:12, For the simple reason we still have the massive Hurley Roundabout congestion.
For all those who travel every day, on their own, in a car…get a bike/motorbike/scooter. It really is simple. I mean, you won’t be able to use your phone to text when you’re on the move, but believe me, it’ll keep you sane and with a lot more cash in your pocket. Save your car for rainy days, but it’s mostly sunlit uplands (aside from the odd near death experience).
My 125cc motorcycle costed $6.71 for a full tank today, and I skipped traffic the whole way into town.
Definitely worth it if you aren’t scared to ride. No car is 100% safe either.
Stay out of the bicycle lanes and you might live another year or two.
Why are so many FIRST TIME Drivers licenses giver to permit holders??
Why are Teslas permitted to have no front license plate?
Why is speeding and reckless driving given a pass?
Why, why, why. Pass the rum.
Which new road, or expansion of a current road, has solved traffic congestion (aka reduced commute time) in Cayman for more than 1 year (or not at all)in the past 25 years?
Please list them in your response below.
Ok. So, I’m no genius, but the problem i see is that Grand Harbour was built in the wrong location for today’s traffic. It would be extremely expensive to fix this issue now. So the alternative is also very expensive. I would build an ugly, yes ugly over pass over top of the road from Kings Gym to the round about CIFA. It would stop the congestion there. Also finish the road by the horse stables. That should have been done ages ago.
False hope. ‘Fixing’ the Grand Harbor roundabout will simply advance the bottleneck 3-5 minutes closer to GT.
I feel for those who commute daily from the east, but I am confident this will not result in the desired improvement. Temper your expectations and start working on solutions for yourselves. CGI won’t be abl to solve this for you.
Public meetings or not, the decision has already been made.
Exactly , the majority of objectors live in houses on reclaimed land given to them by rich daddy or rich husband.
Thousands suffer damage to their lives having to wake at the crack of dawn to get kids to school or get themselves to work.
Where’s your Caymankind now ?
And you think that building this road is going to make your commute easier? It will only lead into another huge traffic jam where you will sit for ages. Guaranteed.
Until the bottleneck at Grand Harbour is made better, all this road will do is enable people to get to the gridlock faster.
We all know this. Why not fix the logjams before building this road?
Fix Grand Harbour, evaluate the traffic flows, and then build the road if needed.
Does Caymankind include littering, illegal dumping of rubbish, carpet bombing of beaches with gargantuan piles of rubbish on every holiday, reckless driving, and blaming every nationality but Caymanians for their troubles?
You forgot being unkind to animals too.
Yep, it takes me over an hour to get to sit in front of my computer, when I did it for almost two years at home. Why am I back in the office after receiving two glowing performance reviews? Simply to make the bosses feel like they are in charge of something. I am resigning now because I have found another employer that allows WFH so one less car in the morning. Imagine if thousands could do this?
The entire island was claimed by pirates long before. Cayman is no longer for Caymanian’s, give up your dream as the road is not for you.
Mostly Caymanians living to the East actually…
I believe you are right and Gilbert will ram this road down our throats at his masters’ bequest if we, the people, let him. The love of money is the root of all evil.
Yup. They have already determined that it’s a colossal waste of money and wholly unnecessary.
No we DON’T need this damn road!
Oh yes we do!
We could encourage more remote work, staggered work times, mandate bussing, and work on the roundabout traffic snarls first, but that won’t unlock landlocked parcels.
Why? Ain’t gonna fix traffic.
“The first meeting will be on Tuesday 7 February at 6pm at the Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre, 923 North Side Road. The second will be in Savannah on **Thursday 9 November** at the CI Baptist Church Hall, 163 Pedro Castle Road.”
@CNS – I think you meant to say “Thursday 9 February”?
CNS: Yes, sorry.
Box checking.
more roads, more development, more people MORE PROBLEMS!
If it’s neting i know about my gubment it’s that they love an under the table, closed door deal as much as they love paving a road. I can gurntee this one going through one way or another in jeesus name.
#vivacayman #worldclass #heavysarcasmimplied #pleasehelpusbabyjesus
Only two meeting in 2 districts but 3 districts are impacted? Despite all of the false transparency claims this right here shows the true picture. Little or no public input is wanted.
Is North Side really that far from East End? If you want your voice heard, you will ensure you are at one of those meetings!
Not everyone has easy access to travel from East End to North Side for this meeting. They should not have to. It is about respect for the people of East End and to allow their input. The people of East End have opinions, suggestions and voices to express it. Isaac should not allow this ….. oh yeah! I forget that him and Jay are great buddies!
Not buddies, Isaac has no spine! You forgot how CMR scared him into joining PACT?
Or, you know, Bodden Town, the district with the most people and where the road is being built?
Or is the idea that since they’re all stuck in traffic they’ll just stop off at 1st Baptist instead? 😉
build the road yesterday
Yeah 7:53, we all want to get to the Hurley Roundabout faster.
Great spot to relax and listen to the radio in the car for an hour.
May as well install hot plates in our cars and cook breafast and dinner after this road is finished without addressing the bottenecks
Actually that’s a great idea!
Very smart indeed 😘
Caymanians will have a new scapegoat when the Chinese road and bridge builders come.
Of course, we have a UDP government now to renew friendships with the “generous” Chinese.
Build the damn road, and stop the foolishness where any foreigner can come here and buy up as many acres as they want for PR points. Buy your 3 million dolla mansion and done. Opt for property tax on expats for bonus points instead of giving revenue per purchase – then nothing after.
I get it, there’s land in there that people in power want unlocked, but cmon now, you think say we going stop them either way? Unlock the land but this is your last chance to give the younger Caymanian generation a breathe of air in this gentrified housing market.
And destroy Cayman’s fragile environment to get to Hurleys round about quicker? Bobo the younger generation won’t have an island to live. You are in that batch that can’t see no further than your nose.
❌ it will create access to land for development.
❌it will create access to land for development.
❌it will create access to land for development.
Why researchers are studying SWFL mangroves after Hurricane Ian.
“ As climate change continues to progress and disturbance events become more frequent and more intense. It’s gonna leave less time for these mangroves to recover and recoup. Leaving us more vulnerable here on the coastal communities”
https://www.winknews.com/2023/01/23/why-researchers-are-studying-swfl-mangroves-after-hurricane-ian/
Mangroves stand no chance against greed and bulldozers
People of The Cayman Islands! Do everything you can to stop EWA extension! Destruction of Grand Cayman has reached the point of no return.
Says another person who doesn’t have to sit in the hours of Eastern traffic.. DAILY
1:46, I don’t get it. You are still going to have to sit at the Hurley Roundabout for a good time. What is the point of getting there faster from the East End?
They have interest in the opening up of the mangrove
1:46 doesn’t get it either, but it will be a nice long raceway
9:56, Nothing nicer than a nice long raceway that comes to a sudden halt at the Hurley Roundabout. 🐢 🐢 🐢 Then you have a great spot for nothing more than turtle races.
It will actually push the bottleneck further east, to the Tomlinson roundabout.
The bottom line, they need to do this road.
Need double lanes, both sides, from the roundabout near the chicken fast food place, all the way to the planned end of this road in east end.
Take a good look at any Cayman map. 3/4’s of the map is swamp, or untouched forest
This road is not going to be an ecological disaster, it’s a blip. It’s not even 1/30th of unused land mass. And look at the road dart built. it has converted west bay into from a traffic congested area, to a place people want to live.
6:25, But shouldn’t thought be given first to the Hurley Roundabout problem first?
Exactly! @11:49 am. That would be the sensible thing to do! A solution for the traffic jams by Hurleys on to Tropical Gardens need to be found first. Building that road will not solve it!
A third lane heading East past Maedac would help. What’s the hold up?
there is still traffic backed up past govenors harbor.
Roads for votes. It is the only way.
If we build it, they will build.
Ah, the road to speed up our journeys to get to the resulting extended bottleneck. Can’t wait.
Imagine the drag races though. Great place to race our ricers
https://www.caymaniantimes.ky/news/seven-miles-but-less-beach
When Henry Ford inventedthe the automoble that changed the historical way that transporting people and products, it transformed the way people lived in the past and brought them into the future by creating new jobs of making aotomobiles, painting automobiles, car automobile repairs, etc…………………… creation of new colleges and universities, university housing developments, shopping centers, restaurants and other entertainment
Fastfoward those inventions to the modern day of Climate Change and the warming of the ocean waters, where Ice Bergs are breaking away from Antarctica the size of the United Kingdom.
Causing alarming Beach Erosion, rising of the Oceans Sea Water and the lost of our Famous Seven Mile Beach, that is requiring Caymanians to Re-Think is precious Tourism Industry we have and start offering Condo Hotels with Salt Water, Water Attraction Parks in undeveloped parts of the the island if we wish to preserve and keep our Tourism Product in the future and continue to offer our people honest and gainful employment
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/25/world/antarctica-brunt-iceberg-climate/index.html
Henry Ford did NOT invent the automobile.
In 1896 Henry Ford built the first car in Detroit.
True. Caymanians invented the automobile. That is why we are the best drivers in the world.