development
CPA begins 2024 with packed development agenda
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority will review almost three dozen applications during its first meeting of the year, including a hotel with a rooftop pool along the Queen’s Highway, a mixed-use development at Grand Harbour, a more than 54-lot subdivision in Bodden Town, and nine National Housing and Development Trust homes in East End. Several […]
Ministry refuses to release OBC for Brac school
(CNS): The Ministry of Education has refused to release the Outline Business Case on which the UPM Government has based its decision to build a new high school on Cayman Brac for an estimated $50 million. Tens of millions of dollars of public money have been allocated for the project in this year’s CI$1billion spending […]
Young activists call for managed retreat along 7MB
(CNS): Local activist group Protect Our Future (POF) is calling for a managed retreat along Seven Mile Beach, as well as a change in planning policy to address how developers define the mean high water mark (HWM) and a review of seawalls in the face of more development that they say is threatening their future […]
NRA’s hydro reports hold up EIA for EWA highway
(CNS): A critical report that will inform the design of the controversial East-West Arterial extension is the only thing holding up the environmental impact assessment for the road. Despite accusations from Cabinet members, including the minister responsible for roads, that the Department of Environment and the need for a full EIA were delaying the start […]
Activists propose cheaper, greener route for EWA
(CNS): The route chosen by the government and the National Roads Authority for the controversial East-West Arterial Road from Newlands to North Side is not the only one available. Local environmental campaigners, Sustainable Cayman, have in partnership with the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds issued an assessment of route options for the […]
Rules changed to allow hotel rooftop pools and bars
(CNS): Government has amended the development and planning regulations to enable hotels and condos in the tourism zones to utilise rooftop space for amenities such as swimming pools, restaurants, bars or spas. The change was passed through parliament at the end of Thursday’s proceedings by Planning Minister Jay Ebanks to promote the use of roofs […]
Appeal court knocks back CPA’s Privy Council bid
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has rejected an application by the Central Planning Authority to take the controversial ‘Boggy Sand Cabana’ case to the Privy Council. But the government v. government courtroom battle that pitched the CPA and the National Conservation Council against each other on the public purse’s dime is probably not […]
Population, infrastructure and disappointment
Michelle Clark writes: Sometime over the last year, our population hit 85,000, and it seemed to come without much effort. Only a few years ago, we were disgusted that the government of the time was considering actively pursuing a population of 100,000 people. At the end of October, the Prospect Playhouse put tickets on sale […]
Dredging of North Sound for cheap fill refused
(CNS): A controversial application to dredge the North Sound for a speculative project has been turned down by the Cabinet. Pierce Holdings had applied for a Coastal Works Permit to dredge an access channel offshore of Block 20C Parcel 176 in George Town to generate fill for a proposed private retirement home in West Bay. […]
NHDT West Bay homes will be finished for Christmas
(CNS): The housing ministry expects the new homes in Phase 3 of the West Bay Light House Gardens Project, a National Housing Development Trust (NHDT) project, to be finished and handed over to owners in time for Christmas. Minister Jay Ebanks and his team visited the site recently for a photo opportunity, as the government […]
Over 50 acres of primary habitat under threat
(CNS): An application for a 184-lot subdivision, including 180 residential lots and a road parcel, puts as much as 50 acres of rare pristine habitat at risk in East End, the DoE has warned. The application, due to be heard by the Central Planning Authority today (Wednesday), also poses a risk to the water lens […]
