Threatened Boggy Sand cottage gets temporary stay
(CNS): An historically significant, Cayman cottage on Boggy Sand Road, which is under threat to pave the way for a duplex was given a temporary stay from demolition earlier this month. The Central Planning Authority adjourned the application for the second over concerns about the design of the building and plans for the removal or destruction of the traditional home.
Known as Herbert Parson’s house the wattle and daub home in the heart of Boggy Sand and West Bay’s historic zone is estimated to be over 100 years old and in relatively good condition. It is also listed on the National Trust’s historic homes register.
But the owners want to demolish or move it to make way for a modern duplex. The iconic property, built on ironwood stilts, is one of only a handful of traditional homes left in the district.
According to the minutes from the 8 November CPA meeting the members, “resolved to adjourn the application and invite the applicant to appear
before the Authority to discuss concerns regarding the design of the building not being in keeping with the architectural traditions of the Islands as well as the applicant’s proposed plans for the existing house.”
In its review the department of the environment raised concerns about development in the area impacting what is critical turtle nesting habitat especially in relation to lighting. But the department also noted that the “proposed duplex has no characteristics that are in keeping with the established historical, architectural or cultural character of the area,” and recommended that the application be refused.
The DoE said the applicant should revisit the duplex design, keep the cottage on site and propose a development in keeping with the unique characteristics and cultural heritage of the Historic Overlay Zone further back on the property,
“The Central Planning Authority (CPA) has a duty to promote and encourage the preservation of historic buildings and conserve their historic architectural heritage within a Historic Overlay Zone,” the DoE experts stated. It should also “consider the proposed development in the context of the Historic Overlay Zone and the purpose of this zone under the Development and Planning Regulations.
The planning department also advised the authority that in its discretion it should ensure that development in the historic zone conforms to the “traditional workmanship, design, scale, massing, form, materials, decoration, colour and methods of construction of the buildings” as well as the location of windows and doors and that the project reflects the historic pattern of development in the Islands.
See the full application and agency submissions in the minutes for the CPA 8 November meeting item 2.29 here.
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Category: Environment, Heritage and Culture, Local News
I would be happy to take and transport this house onto my land. How would I go about doing that ?
hire 6 jamaicans and some trucks. process will take 3 weeks and cost around $28k.
you are welcome
Please relocate to the botanic park overlooking the lake. Problem solved!
Another Caymanian educated genius.
Please relocate to your back yard. Problem solved!
Maybe allow a new home with variance for building more than the site should have. Improvements are necessary but not at expense of adequate drainage and violating approved low density residential zoning. We don’t need another “Boggy Sands” condo development.
Just knock the old shack down as the new building is better.
if it’s one thing you see here, it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Cheaper too.
It may be a shack to you….but it is a treasure to me and ANY Caymanian that loves their Country. I suggest you RETURN to your country of origin…since you have no RESPECT for ours.. and if you are a “sell-out” Caymanian….shame on you!!!!
Keep this place from the investors from HELL!
spoken like a person who don’t own any land.
Does that bother you?
Maybe more Acts are needed to protect the Caymanian species as well!!
In the developed world the property would be listed and you wouldn’t be allowed to tear it down.
haha…the developed world has real historical structures …not timber framed shacks with tin roofs….
That’s all they could AFFORD!!!!!!!!!
Take a look at IVAN…..he couldn’t budge these little “shacks on stilts”…as you refer to them. As for the “modern mansions”….they didn’t stand a snowball chance in hell.🔥💥🔥
I adore this piece of history and considered renting it years back from a lovely owner but when we went inside I’d be hitting my head on the bottom chord of the trusses (people were shorter back in the day). That structure withstands hurricanes but looks like it is jeopardized by development.
You ever been in that house? I have. It’s done. floors are heaved and falling apart. pick it up and move it if you want it so bad. But it’s doomed to fall apart.
don’t bring facts into this!!!!
Push this foolishness down pleeease! Cayman gone and it ain’t coming back either Sold OUT!by our useless self serving political scum!
Sold out by Caymanians.
I’m as Caymanian as you can get, with a love for all things Caymanian, but I do not see one single redeeming feature is saving that building as it is!
I would be happy to see the additions removed, and then the ironwood post on the original wattle and daub cut off at the ground and then move the whole thing elsewhere, but forcing people to keep that building as is while allowing someone else to build in the sea is a travesty of justice.
“it should ensure that development in the historic zone conforms to the “traditional workmanship, design, scale, massing, form, materials, decoration, colour and methods of construction of the buildings” as well as the location of windows and doors and that the project reflects the historic pattern of development in the Islands.”
What a waste of time and money. Who wants to live in an antique, and who is going to pay for maintaining that antique?
how is it historically significant?
It was built before bush gave status to some 3000 Jamaicans.
don’t ask awkward questions?
That doesnt look like wattle and daub to me
It’s not. It’s tongue and groove siding. Also doesn’t appear to be on ironwood stilts, or stilts/sleepers/posts of any kind.
I lived in this house and it was such an amazing experience, will always love it to bits. That being said, time has been steadily catching up with it.
Will be so sad to see it go and I hope it can be relocated.
I remember you telling me about that.
Nothing historic about that termite shack. Try so knock it down already. Not a lick of wattle or daub in sight.
From your writing, I can tell you are a Caymanian. Here’s some advice from another Caymanian : Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.
so a person trying to build a duplex must adhere to the characteristics of the area, but if you have couple hundred million you can built FIN that looks nothing like anything across the island. got it.
Agreed – all the new “modern” developments look like prisons and lack any charm whatsoever.
Is there not a law (other than in historical zones) that do not permit this type of white small box developments?
The developers are making fortunes off these cheap to build bulk units – buyers beware!
Historic Zone (where the old house is) vs a regular zone. That could be one difference. Or did we not mean it as a country when we declared the area with the old homes a historic zone?
You think in a hundred year’s time they’ll be trying to preserve the concrete blocks of Downtown Reach?
FIN for sure.
ocean reach
Or the homes in Harbour Reach.
That dump will fall in to the sea in less than 25.
it will be there in 100 years for sure…