Sun chair rental business pops up on Boggy Sand Beach
(CNS): Rows of sun loungers and beach umbrellas for visitors to rent reappeared on Boggy Sand Beach this week. The spot located on Mary Mollie Hydes Road, behind the West Bay Four Winds gas station, is private land and was the site of a controversial pop-up beach rental business in the past.
When chairs appeared at the same location in January 2019, the Department of Planning issued a stop notice indicating that planning permission was required, and the Department of Commerce investigated the business, given that it was a commercial venture close to crown land. Soon afterwards, the loungers disappeared.
With the appearance this week of more sunchairs and blue umbrellas, CNS readers contacted us about the commercial venture on one of West Bay’s favourite stretches of beach. The concerns are fuelled by the dwindling public access to the beach, given that much of what’s left of Seven Mile Beach is either off limits to local people because of efforts by landowners to block access or because of ongoing commercialisation of public beaches.
CNS contacted the Department of Planning, which failed to respond to our inquiry, and the Public Lands Commission, which said its inspectorate team had immediately conducted a visit at the site following the report but said that this is private land.
“It has been confirmed that the beach loungers are situated on a privately owned beachfront property next to a Crown parcel,” a spokesperson for the PLI stated. “We will be referring this matter to the relevant government agency to determine if there have been any violations related to commercial activities on this property. The PLI will conduct regular inspections to ensure the public prescriptive rights to traverse the seashore are not obstructed and that the loungers do not encroach on to the Crown land.”
The owner of the chairs requires a trade and business license in order to rent the sun loungers, and the land owner needs planning permission for the chairs to be stored there, as was clearly indicated by the the stop notice issued by the department last time. CNS continues to await the planning department’s response to our inquiry.
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Category: Business, Local News, Tourism
Ask the Minister of Sport to dig a swimming hole, that would swallow the beach chairs.
This is no different from Red Spot Beach where the fishmongers selling their Ganga smoked fish trespass on the land precluding tourists from using the beach.
The Government needs grow balls.
This place is just Little Jamaica. Let it rot, and when nothing is left and no finance companies can stand to be here any longer, we will all watch together as it sinks into, and upon, the sea which she founded it.
Can I go and offer back rubs and hair braiding or are these customers exclusive?
You just gave me a business idea…although I can’t braid hair.
Is this a swimming beach?
None of the beaches swim, but you can swim from this beach.
with a happy ending?
The Public has an absolute and indefeasible right to use and enjoy the whole beach, from sea to natural vegetation line. That right moves with the sand, and the natural vegetation line. Everyone that bought that land bought it subject to that public right. Limitations are unlawful, especially if they involve an unlicensed business excluding others.
References to High Water Mark are irrelevant – and it is not a right of way. It is a right to peaceably use and enjoy.
Cayman Prescription Law
Effect of twenty years use by the public or any class of the public of a beach and of means of access thereto:
4.(1) When any beach has been used by the public or any class of the public for fishing, for purposes incident to fishing or for bathing or recreation, and any road, track or pathway passing over any land adjoining or adjacent to such beach has been used by the public or any class of the public as a means of access to such beach, without interruption for twenty years, the public shall, subject to the provisos hereinafter contained, have the absolute and indefeasible right to use such beach, land, road, track or pathway, unless it appears that the same was enjoyed by some consent or agreement expressly made or given for that purpose by deed or writing.
No point in voting down. That is a literal quote from the applicable law. Where is the room for disagreement?
Can I get weed, beer and a massage like I can on Public Beach?
Higglers gonna higgle
Private land then they can do what they like surely? But there should be NO beach on Cayman that is private land.
CIG has repeatedly moved the crown land mark. Its now the high water mark. So long as its above that there is nothing to be done.
Short sighted decisions made to benefit rich developers as per usual.
Bullshit. Irrelevant. Read the Prescription Law.
Do what you like – IF you comply with planning permission and have a trade and business licence. Fact it is a beach doesn’t exempt you from that.
“Private land then they can do what they like surely?” – Yes, absolutely, I mean if they want to start an open air garbage dump they should be able to do so with no regulation!
Maybe the question is ‘is storing beach chairs enough of a development activity that it needs a Planning permit’?
(Maybe the solution is not the current level of Planning rules for beach chair storage, but better companies rules for trade & business licencing.)
Do not conflate private ownership rights and public use rights. They are different and often unrelated things.
Rules/guide lines/laws in Cayman are irrelevant. There is no oversight – a complete banana territory. All matters are decided outside of public scrutiny (any corruption here?) – A third world electorate, third world legislature with third world education = third world results: Cayman is going into very dark decades where it has no ability to escape from – all self inflicted.
….the cheap, tacky, mercenary, gluttonous developing nature of the Cayman Islands continues apace…..
We used to be better than this. We used to pride ourselves that the higglers were on the island next to us…never here….
Now it is all about avarice and the cliff edge is both behind and fast disappearing above us……
Higglers at the top have been placed there by the higglers at the bottom.
The public’s right is not just to traverse! It is to peaceably enjoy, from sea to natural vegetation line!!!!!
Our government is stealing our rights before our eyes!
That beach setup exudes luxury
LOL
Those chairs are all above the high water mark tho?? Seems perfectly legit to me if they have a business licence.
High Water Mark is NOTHING to do with Cayman Islands Law on this issue.
Except they don’t. Or planning permission.
And even with those it would not be legit if it interfered with the public’s rights.
backside. a who dat?
Does this mean that the jokers who are on public beach who leave all their stuff overnight so it looks like a shanty town, (especially on the days when there are no cruise ships in) have licenses and planning permission?
What about the ones who have nailed the traffic cones into public parking spaces to conduct their business there???
work permits? Business licence? Agreements between the rental folk and the property owners?
Pensions?
Health Insurance?
Vacation pay?
Minimum wage?
Caymanian participation?
if we don’t have to worry about catering to cruise ship passengers these types of low rent businesses wouldn’t be needed.
Seems like a sensible venture on public taxable property.
Cayman doesn’t have property taxes.
It would, to the landowner.
is it who we all think it is…? again?..
Name and shame CNS
sea wall and they have a beach?????
very strange indeed…..
Better not tell the DOE.
They do have both
it happens at the Marriott also that these businesses encroach on the public way and in south sound some private property owners are also encroaching on the public way which is anything below the mean high tide mark
The public’s right is NOT a right of way. It is an inalienable right to peaceably use and enjoy the entire beach, from sea to natural vegetation line.
10:29, not very bright are you?
Consider its position on SMB, the beach begins about 100ft away at the public dock, where as the other sea walls are in the middle / tail end of Mother Natures process of maintaining the beach; hence they have an affect on it.
yawn….keep telling yourself the myth of around seawalls….when you cannot point to one and its associated impact on beach erosion after construction.
Except Marnie Turner’s wall, which started the whole thing off in more ways than one.
Go further south onto Boggy Sand see if there is a beach by the new development.
21@10:29am. Yes, since the seawall was constructed some 15 years ago, the sand comes and goes. But that has always been Boggy Sand road, in some areas the sand usually erodes down to the hard sand ledges, then usually comes back.
Not for much longer. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.