Marriott beach could be back by September

Tourists could be stretching out on a broad swathe of sandy beach in front of the Grand Cayman Marriott Resort by the next high season after efforts to restore the eroded shoreline moved a step closer.

Government has now approved a permit fee waiver, with an estimated value close to $1 million, and sand is expected to be shipped to the island in the coming months.

The resort says work is likely to begin in May and will be completed within three months, in time for the winter tourism season.

The stretch of Seven Mile Beach in front of the resort has suffered chronic erosion for years, at times leaving little to no usable sand and forcing the property to drop “Beach” from its name as the shoreline retreated.

The project is being watched as a potential template for wider restoration efforts along the southern end of Seven Mile, where severe erosion has impacted more than half-a-mile of prime beach.

Marriott General Manager Hermes Cuello said the fee waiver helped pave the way for the project to begin in May. The Coastal Works Application was granted in August last year and the hotelier has been given permission to ship in 8,000 cubic yards of sand to restore the eroded beachfront.

The proposal includes placing two 135-foot low-profile rock groynes on the shoreline to help prevent the sand from being swept away in future storms.

The approval included multiple conditions aimed at protecting the adjacent marine park and ensuring the design could be integrated into any larger-scale beach renourishment at the southern end of Seven Mile, if and when that is approved.

Among the conditions recommended by the Department of Environment were strict turbidity controls during sand placement, post-construction monitoring of shoreline impacts and requirements that imported sand closely match native beach material.

Cuello said working through those safeguards had taken time but demonstrated the resort’s commitment to cooperating fully with regulators and protecting the surrounding marine environment.

He said the resort’s engineers had been working through the approvals process and incorporating those points into the design and are hopeful that a licence to begin work will be granted in the next few weeks.

Government had initially approved a 50% waiver of licensing and permitting fees and has now extended that to 100%, Premier André Ebanks confirmed.

Cuello said the fee waiver was helpful in making the project manageable. He said it would, over time, result in increased fees to government through growth in room taxes associated with increased visitation and revenue.

The project, which is being funded by the hotelier, will also serve as a template for what could be possible for beach restoration in wider parts of Seven Mile Beach.

Cuello said his team had worked with the Department of Environment and the Department of Agriculture to source sand that fits with the aesthetic and environmental conditions at Seven Mile.

“We are moving forward and hopefully we will begin in early summer,” he said.

While recommending the hotel’s project for approval, the Department of Environment noted in its coastal works review that “a comprehensive regional beach nourishment project remains the best solution,” for the wider beach. It recommended that any individual efforts should ultimately fit into a coordinated plan to address worsening erosion along a much larger stretch of Seven Mile Beach.