Aqua Bay $60M 10 storey revamp gets greenlight

(CNS): A revised planning application by condo owners at Aqua Bay on Seven Mile Beach to redevelop the small condo complex into a 10 storey tower cut the proposed height just enough to meet regulations. The project described by objectors as an “ill-conceived monstrosity” has been given the greenlight from the Central Planning Authority which dismissed all of the other concerns raised by the dozens of objectors, despite the obvious and significant change it will bring to the quieter and less dense northern end of the beach.

The CPA said that the project complies with the 1997 plan, which the objectors pointed out was woefully out of date and an inadequate guide for modern day conditions. But the said the objectors had not persuaded the authority that any of the myriad concerns presented had merit.

“The Authority is satisfied that the layout, scale and massing of the development are compatible with the ecological, aesthetic and other physical characteristics of the site and that a high quality of design and landscaping are and will be used,” the CPA said according to the minutes of the October meeting when the project was reconsidered.

Even though the finished product – a glass and steel tower – will look nothing like the current low rise condo complexes around it as the size and scale is far bigger than anything nearby, the CPA said the proposed development didn’t represent over-development of the site. The authority said it complies with all minimum required setbacks even though it granted a variance for additional apartments.

The CPA also stated that the project complies with the minimum high water mark setbacks and the “proposed development will ensure that it is designed to avoid interference with natural coastal processes.” But the department of the environment has been warning for years that the highwater mark setbacks in the now 27 year old plan are massively insufficient to deal with the changing dynamics of the beach and the impact of climate change.

Many of the places built on the southern end of Seven Mile Beach had substantial beach fronts when they were built in the 1990s but today have no beach at all.

The precedent setting project, a major redevelopment of the existing three storey complex built some 35 years ago, is on the last remaining tranquil stretch of Seven Mile Beach which has not yet succumb to the serious beach erosion problems. But this approval of the application could be the beginning of the end for this much loved and more appropriately developed stretch of the beach.

In its reasons from granting planning permission and effectively dismissing all of the objections the CPA said it was of the view that they did not raise sufficient ground for refusing permission and accused them of making “several inflammatory and hyperbolic statements”.