A controversial proposal to excavate a 44-acre site in Lower Valley is on the horizon for the Planning Appeals Tribunal.
The Appeals Tribunal was scheduled to hear the appeal Monday, but the hearing was pushed back to mid-March after appellants and objectors each submitted additional materials late Friday, according to a Ministry of Finance, Tourism and Development staffer.
Whiterock Investments is appealing the Central Planning Authority’s rejection in February 2011 of its plan to excavate and remove 295,000 cubic yards of fill from its land at Mahogany Estates off Beach Bay Road. Nearby residents have objected the proposal is for a de facto quarry, while the developer has argued that selling the fill is necessary in order to create a single-family development on the site.
Officials have refused similar applications in the past.
In 2008, the Planning Authority refused Lorenzo Berry’s application to excavate and remove 250,000 cubic yards of fill from the site. The Planning Authority had refused a similar application in January 2000. That decision was upheld by the Appeals Tribunal in May 2000.
The developer has had approval since 1997 to excavate and remove 29,000 cubic yards of fill in order to create a single-family development.
In February 2011, the Planning Authority characterised the proposal as “a commercial excavation operation”, rather than a true housing development.
After the Planning Authority’s decision in 2011, Whiterock attorney J. Samuel Jackson said, “it is anticipated that the decision will be appealed”.
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