Plans for a shuttle bus service to ferry guests between the Westin hotel and an off-site car park were presented to the Central Planning Authority this week as part of the long-running $153 million expansion project for the Seven Mile Beach hotel.
The hotel’s owners, Invincible Investment Corporation, received planning permission in July 2023 for a new 10-storey, 234-bedroom tower and spa on the southern park of the existing site, as well as an 18,410 square feet conference facility, 7,300 square feet ballroom, and two new guest swimming pools, one at ground level and one on the roof.
More than 18 months later, the applicants were back in front of the planning board on Wednesday, 19 March, to discuss plans for an off-site car park which would be located across West Bay Road, just north of Sunshine Suites.
The expanded hotel will require 385 car parking spaces, more than can be accommodated by the current site, so there were questions to be answered about local rights of way and the Westin’s initial plans to have a shaded pedestrian walkway for the two-minute walk to the hotel for guests to use in travelling to and from the site.
Shuttle service
However, at Wednesday’s meeting, architect Andrew Gibb said that, following various objections, the hotel had now amended its plans so that the only way for guests to travel between the hotel and the off-site car park was via a shuttle bus.
This meant that it no longer had the need to prove either public or private rights of ways between the two sites. He added that the hotel had also dropped any plans for a walkway promenade, so no further planning applications needed to be made regarding those.
Jim Mauer, general manager of the Westin, demonstrated to the board how the shuttle bus would work. The plan is for three 30-seater air-conditioned Toyota buses to constantly run between the car park to the Westin via the Esterley-Tibbets Highway in an anti-clockwise loop, running every 10 minutes in high season and taking around five minutes to the hotel and eight minutes back to the car park, he said.
Car park ‘public asset’
Planning regulations in the Cayman Islands say that a maximum of 50% of parking spaces can be located off-site, but the expansion plans for the Westin mean that around 91% of spaces would be located across the road, requiring the applicant to prove that there are “exceptional circumstances” to request a variance in the rules.
In its submissions to the planning board, the hotel says that the extra capacity of the expanded resort would be of strategic importance to Cayman Islands tourism, and that the car park would not be detrimental to the local neighbourhood.
“The parking area is a public asset,” said Gibbs, saying that it would be free to use by anyone, regardless of whether or not they were staying at the hotel.
However, Robert Jones, speaking on behalf of the owner of Cayman Falls shopping centre across the road from the Westin who is objecting to the project, said that the shuttle bus was only going to increase traffic.
“The applicant has failed to show exceptional circumstances for the extreme variation required,” he said, adding that, in spite of the shuttle bus, people would still be walking across his client’s land to get to the hotel.
In response, attorney Waide DaCosta described Jones’ client as a “conscientious objector”.
The existing Westin resort was built between 1994 and 1999 and consists of a five-storey hotel with 343 guest rooms, a pool, a spa facility, meeting and conference space, and two restaurants. A planning application for the new hotel annex and conference facilities was first submitted on 12 Oct. 2022 and was adjourned several times before being approved in July 2023.
The CPA is expected to announce its decision on the latest proposals within a few weeks.
Related Videos
How could the owner of the property across the street object to people walking on his property There are 3 restaurants there and this is free advertising Ledgends is much less expensive to eat at then the Weston