The Central Planning Authority is scheduled to hear an application for Dart’s 10-storey Hotel Indigo tomorrow, 16 Feb., without receiving input on the hotel’s potential environmental impact because none of the National Conservation Council members have been officially reappointed.
Director of Environment Gina Ebanks-Petrie, in a letter dated 10 Feb. 2021 to Director of Planning Haroon Pandohie, called for a decision on the hotel planning permission to be deferred until Cabinet has reappointed council members.
Ebanks-Petrie said the Department of Environment had prepared a ‘screening opinion’ on the $80 million project, but as Cabinet had not reappointed members since October last year, the DoE was unable to submit that opinion to the council.
Under the National Conservation Law, the DoE, on behalf of the council, can screen a development project to determine if it requires an environmental impact assessment.
In her letter, Ebanks-Petrie stated, “The DoE’s comments to the [Central Planning Authority] on behalf of the [National Conservation Council] under Section 41 of the NCL will need to reflect the outcome of the decision on the Screening Opinion. To do otherwise (i.e., submit comments before the NCC has been able to consider the Screening Opinion) would have the DoE prejudging the decision of the NCC in relation to whether or not an EIA is required for the project, which of course would be acting contrary to the provisions of the EIA Directive and therefore the NCL.”
She said the DoE “therefore urgently requests that this planning application is held in abeyance pending the appointment of the NCC to allow for the Screening Opinion and the review of the development application to be issued in accordance with the prevailing legal framework”.
She said that to grant planning permission for the hotel development without taking into account the views of the National Conservation Council was contrary to the provisions of the National Conservation Law.
“It also sends a clear message about the Central Planning Authority’s and Planning Department’s attitude towards the environment and the wider principles of sustainable development,” she wrote. “Sustainable development seeks to ensure that development is considered in its widest context including assessing economic, social and environmental implications.
“Given the lack of environmental technical expertise on the Central Planning Authority, it is unclear on what basis a decision can be reached which takes into account environmental considerations.”
The application, submitted by Dart-owned Shoreline Development Company Ltd. (DECCO Ltd), is for a 10-storey, 282-room hotel on West Bay Road near Seven Mile Public Beach. If planning permission is granted, the InterContinental Hotels & Resorts-branded hotel is scheduled to open in 2024.
The hotel would be located between the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa and the Esterley Tibbetts Highway, with a designated beach area between the Kimpton and the now-closed Calico Jack’s restaurant and bar.
Related Videos
Perhaps the incinerator ought to be up and running before any further development is considered.
Seems like any Dart project, no matter how large, starts with a delay, then somehow is approved. This project is at least more inland and won’t damage the natural beachfront. The project where they want to make a canal will have a huge impact on 7 mile beach. That’s when the Gov’t has to have the courage to say no.
So the government doesn’t appoint a committee for 5 months and then tells a developer that he can’t build. There is something wrong with this picture.