$32 million apartment block approved for West Bay’s Heritage Square

Planning permission has been given for a $32 million luxury apartment block near the four-way stop in West Bay, which objectors say is “incompatible” with the character of the area and developers say will serve the needs of the community.

The Residences apartment block proposed by developers Heritage Holdings Ltd will be located on the two parcels of land known as Heritage Square, which are currently occupied by a car park, a liquor store, an electrical store and a clothing shop.

The 40-foot-high, 12,000-square-feet building will surround the historic restaurant Heritage Kitchen and the museum, which are both on the waterfront by West Bay Beach on separate parcels of land, and will be near The Sands development on Boggy Sands Road.

The block will contain 12 apartments with a total of 40 bedrooms and will include a swimming pool, a gym and a generator as well as basement and ground-floor storage units available for public rental.

The plans were originally filed in December last year but have been slightly modified since to include the storage units and to reduce the number of apartments from 14 to 12, although the proposed height, building footprint and building size remained the same.

Objectors to the plans collected a petition of more than 235 signatures opposing the development, but due to planning regulations only the objectors who lived within 500 feet of the area were able to formally register their views.

The minutes to the Central Planning Authority meeting note that the applicant re-notified all landowners within 500 feet when the plans were revised, and that many of the same objectors to the original proposal submitted objections to the revised plan.

At the meeting, held on 10 Sept. at the South Sound Community Centre, objectors continued to raise concerns that the building was not in keeping with the historic nature of West Bay or its traditional buildings.

However, attorney Waide DaCosta, who was acting on behalf of the applicant, told the meeting that the current site around the four-way stop was “cluttered” and an “eyesore” and that the development will actually improve the view by opening it up to “see the wonderful Caribbean Sea”.

Permission granted

Minutes to the meeting show that the planning board granted permission for the development, subject to certain conditions being met including installing turtle-friendly lightning.

The Central Planning Authority said that it had taken all representations including objections into account when making its decision, noting that “the proposal will not be materially detrimental to persons residing or working in the vicinity, to the adjacent property, to the neighbourhood, or to the public welfare.”

While the development will be an historic overlay zone, the authority said it was satisfied that it complies with regulations regarding the issue, stating that “there are no historic buildings on the site to preserve” and adding that that the proposed building “conforms to the established traditional development palette of the Islands”, also noting that it was similar in style to the nearby developments The Sands and Centennial Towers.

The authority said that objectors did not raise sufficient grounds for refusing planning permission, adding that “peacefulness, privacy, blocking of light and air and overshadowing are not material planning considerations”.