Cayman Enterprise City’s application to modify plans for a $230 million office-and-housing campus in South Sound will finally be heard by the Central Planning Authority after a six-week delay.
The developer has requested planning approval to withdraw the lakes and reclaimed wetland park from its original 70-acre ‘masterplan’ in order to make way for a school and housing.
These will add “significant value and benefit to the entire community”, it said, adding previous plans were “unbalanced” and did not consider residential and educational needs.
However, objectors fear this will increase the likelihood of flooding in the area.
After being tabled for 29 March, the application was removed from the agenda due to objectors complaining they had not been given sufficient notice to prepare submissions.
Melanie Carmichael of Sustainable Cayman said she learned of the meeting date only after reading a Compass article and had not received an invite.
“Given that the applicant will have received due notice to prepare submissions the same should be afforded to the objectors,” she wrote in a complaint to the planning department.
At the time, Deputy Director of Planning Ron Sanderson told the Compass the application was withdrawn from the agenda due to a “procedural issue”.
Now the matter has been added to the authority’s latest agenda and will be heard on Wednesday, 24 May.
No more lakes
Cayman Enterprise City first submitted plans to create a commercial-and-residential park in 2015. Over the next five years, several additions and modifications were approved.
The mixed-use development, located south of the new proposed arterial highway, includes a city centre, commercial hub, boardwalk and island, and luxury housing development.
Original plans for the ‘urban city’ off Fairbanks Road included the 10.7-acre Enterprise Lagoon and an outdoor mangrove and wetland botanic lagoon park named Living Waters.
However, in an application for modification of those plans, the company proposed to forego creating the lakes.
In the meeting agenda, Gina Ebanks-Petrie, director of the Department of Environment, expressed several concerns over the revised plans, including eliminating the lakes from the design.
She said developments, such as Cayman Enterprise City’s new hub, will exacerbate flooding in the area and add to water-quality issues of the receiving waters.
The planning authority also received six letters of objection to the plans.
The first, signed by 15 local property owners, spoke of concerns of ongoing drainage and flooding issues in South Sound.
They suggested a storm water management plan should be developed for the entire area.
Another objection letter from representatives of all 168 units of beachfront residential community Vela said they were also concerned about the removal of lakes and wetlands.
They stressed that this, among other issues, could have a negative impact on Vela’s current drainage and flooding problems.
Other concerns included the loss of mangrove wetland, the change in use of the land, access roads, building height, lack of notification, and extension of the site by another five acres.
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