A proposed $55 million development on the site of the former Black Pearl skate park site in Grand Harbour has been refused planning permission by the planning board due to concerns over traffic.
Property developers Project.ky had applied for planning permission for The Pearl, a residential and commercial complex consisting of 74 homes ranging from one-bedroom apartments to three-bedroom town houses.
The plans included an indoor food hall, an outside bar and restaurant, an indoor climbing wall and 14,000 sq ft lagoon and swimming pool.
Harry Webber of Project.ky, whose company bought the vacant site after the skate park closed, had previously said that he hoped the proposed development would mean that people would be able to walk to use the area instead of having to drive and that he wanted to keep the community aspect of the area alive following the closure of the park.
Minutes from the Central Planning Authority meeting of 21 Jan. show that its board refused planning permission because, “Based on the recommendations of the National Roads Authority, the government’s traffic experts, the applicant, through their Traffic Impact Assessment, has failed to demonstrate that traffic impact from the proposed development will be at an acceptable level.”
When the plans were first submitted to the National Roads Authority, it had raised concerns over a development of this size in the area “as there is a significant amount of traffic build-up at the intersection of Edgewater Way and the Grand Harbour Roundabout in the evenings from residents trying to enter the site intermixed with customers exiting,” adding “this development has the potential risk for a traffic incident being significantly increased.”
Access to the residences will be via a right of way to the south of Harbour Walk, while the bar, food hall and recreation space would be accessed via Bimini Drive. Representatives of Grand Harbour’s Arvia strata, which is located on Bimini Drive, had also lodged their objections to the proposals.
The National Roads Authority recommended that the planners conducted a Traffic Impact Assessment, which was carried out in May last year. Following the report, the roads authority still had concerns, saying, “While the [Traffic Impact Assessment] provides a comprehensive assessment of traffic operations, the failure to incorporate the planned Edgewater Bypass road into future analyses and the deviation in the specific traffic modeling software used are significant departures from the [Scope of Work]. These shortcomings could materially impact the validity of the future projections and the overall evaluation of the development’s impact and necessary mitigation measures.”
However the developers, represented by PPDS Cayman, have said that the roads authority has overestimated the traffic created by the proposal and that planned infrastructure improvements will be able to cope with the expected traffic.
In a letter to the Central Planning Authority, PPDS Cayman said, “The NRA has not demonstrated that the proposed development would have an appreciable effect on the road network, nor has it provided evidence that changes the conclusions of the [Traffic Impact Assessment] or the subsequent professional review.”
The Black Pearl skate park was opened in 2005 by world-renowned skateboarder Tony Hawk and had been consistently in operation since 2013 before closing for good in 2024.
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Maybe if they didn’t close the skate park so prematurely they’d have seen more support. The facility was a wonderful asset for our youths with no replacement in sight.