The crumbling foundations of a now demolished cabana that became a flash point for the conflicting interests of property owners and the environment has been earmarked for a new development.
New plans to build a deck at the controversial site have been dismissed as “futile” by environmental officials who warn the structure is “failing” and may need to be demolished entirely.
The original cabana was built so close to the coast on an eroded stretch of beach on Boggy Sand Road that water lapped against its walls at high tide.
It was torn down after the Court of Appeal ruled last year that the National Conservation Council had been within its rights to direct refusal of plans to renovate the structure and sea wall.
The plans were the subject of a power struggle, still rumbling through Cayman’s courts, between the council and the Central Planning Authority which initially approved the application.
Now the developer, K&B Ltd, has abandoned plans to rebuild the cabana and submitted a new application for a wooden deck at the site.
Notes to the Central Planning Authority agenda for Wednesday’s meeting indicate the proposed deck is intended as an amenity for residents of the Sands condo complex, owned by the same company.
“The property is the site of the former cabana that [led] to much legal action between the DOE and Planning Department.
“The cabana has been removed from the concrete base and the proposal is to place wooden decking on the concrete base. It is intended that the deck be used by the residents of the new Sands residential building in the vicinity,” the agenda states.
Photographs submitted by the Department of Environment with its comments on the application suggest work on the deck has already started.
The Department of Environment is advising that permission be refused and that the site is simply not suitable for any kind of development.
“It is evident that within a very short period the structure is failing, partly due to an inappropriate design and partly due to its position in an inappropriate location,” the department wrote.
“It would therefore seem futile to try to permit further development on this problematic site. It is well within the authority of the building official to require the demolition of this structure if it is deemed unsafe.”
Summing up the problem, in its analysis, the department indicates that the developer’s own engineering report suggests that if no remediation is undertaken on the structure, the deck would be unsafe.
But if remediation is undertaken there may be impacts on the Seven Mile Beach marine park.
Particular concern is that a major storm or hurricane could cause significant damage to the structure with debris potentially swept into the marine park.
“As outlined in our original reviews for the work on this site, it is very clear that this site is not a good location for built development and the seawall probably should never have been granted planning permission a decade ago.”
The CPA was scheduled to discuss the matter at its meeting on Wednesday, but the application was not listed for an in person appearance so those discussions took place behind closed doors.
The authority’s decision is not known and will not be made publicly available until it posts the minutes on its website, something which usually takes between two weeks and a month.
The most recent meeting minutes currently on the site are from 10 April.
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It’s time that the owners behind these corporate developers be identified. It seems these people have no problem with commencing construction before their plans have been approved.
I cannot recall; does anyone know how long the foundation has been there?