CPA hearing airport expansion plan in campaign period

(CNS): On Wednesday, the Central Planning Authority will hear an application made by consultants representing the Cayman Islands Airport Authority to expand the apron at the end of the runway at the Owen Roberts International Airport, pushing it into an area of mangrove buffer and woodland. This application is a small slice of the plan that the outgoing administration was supporting across the airport estate.

It is connected to the controversial $42 million re-development of the general aviation terminal catering only to private jets and Cayman’s richest visitors and travellers.

Airport officials put a range of development proposals to the government and found support for much of the work, including a runway expansion and a new general aviation terminal at ORIA, which appears to have taken priority, despite widespread belief that the CIAA should be working to improve the main airport terminals that carrying residents and the bulk of Cayman’s tourists, rather than the facilities used by only high-net-worth individuals.

The project is going before the CPA during what is now known as the “period of sensitivity” during the official general election campaign, and it is certain that the government that supported the project will no longer be in power after the next election.

The PACT/UPM administration has splintered and its members are now campaigning as independents or with two different parties. As such, it is not known if the next government will support the current project, given the very real concerns about the costs.

This external work, estimated to cost around CI$1.2 million in the planning document, involves less than 700,000sqft of the land at Owen Roberts airport, which consists of 343 acres and runs only to a portion of land north of the existing runway and east of the existing apron. The consultants are seeking approval for the expanded apron pavement and existing service road, a generator and a utility building.

The Department of the Environment has already advised the CIAA and planning that the National Conservation Council does not require an EIA to be conducted as the DoE has all the information it needs to inform the authorities of the extent of the environmental damage and threats the project poses and what mitigation measures are required.

The DoE reminded the CPA that when it hears applications for any development of a Mangrove Buffer Zone, the Development and Planning Regulations require consideration of the ecological functions
performed by the mangroves. Under the regulations, all forms of development are prohibited in a Mangrove Buffer unless there are exceptional circumstances.

In this case, the DoE said that the CIAA and its consultants have “demonstrated a willingness to collaborate on a comprehensive mitigation strategy”, and the department has urged the CPA to include a mandatory mitigation plan as part of the conditions. The DoE scientists have recommended that the apron be pulled back from the mangrove buffer and the ocean as the proposed apron and service road are situated very close to the North Sound, with some areas as close as 40 ft from the sea.

“To enhance the long term climate resiliency of the proposed development, we strongly encourage the applicant to consider siting the development further back from the shoreline. Coastal setbacks not only reduce the risk of damage from storm surges, sea-level rise and coastal erosion, but also help to preserve the natural protection that coastal ecosystems, such as mangroves, provide,” the DoE said.

The government began looking for designers for this part of the airport project last January. It appears that AMR Consultant Engineers, who worked on the previous airport project, won the contract, though there is no indication on the central procurement website when it was awarded.