Scaffolding is up on the front of the Lobster Pot building on North Church Street, as work continues to repair the restaurant damaged by fire 24 November.
In addition to a complete roof replacement, plans for the restaurant include a renovation, including a new menu, restaurant manager Gunter Gosch has said.
In mid-March, Mr. Gosch expressed hopes the restaurant would be able to re-open in late May or early June, but at the time he said that projection was a “moving target”.
On Monday, Mr. Gosch said an opening date in July is more feasible.
“Things are coming along. There have been a few hiccups along the way. I think the major things are sorted out now.
Hopefully everything goes swiftly from here on,” he said.
On 11 April, the Central Planning Authority granted Lobster Pot permission to build a balcony addition to the restaurant, carrying an estimated cost of $1.4 million.
According to the minutes of the authority’s meeting, owners wrote, “With an ongoing increase in dining options on the island, the Lobster Pot is missing out on one major competitive advantage – we are the only water front restaurant with no outdoor seating!
This proposed balcony will give the business a fair chance to compete in this saturated market and help us to continue to be successful and keep this landmark restaurant a vibrant business by offering our long time regulars the change they have been asking for many years.
With this addition, we hope to broaden our client base and attract the more casual diner, cruise ship passengers and the clientele of the dive shop operating in the same building.”
Owners noted that the proposed second-floor, 1,090-square-foot balcony addition would encroach into the coastline setback, but asked for a variance due to the age of the building, which has been in place for more than 50 years, as well as the existence of other decks for restaurants and pubs along the coast.
Signs, signs
During its meeting held 28 March, the authority tackled the topic of “cleaning up all of the illegal sandwich board signs that have begun to litter the Island”, according to the meeting minutes.
The Department of Planning “presented a list of sites along main roads where sandwich board signs have become a problem.
The authority was advised that this is a preliminary list only and that additional sites will be brought back for the Authority’s consideration.”
According to the list, the authority resolved to authorise the issuance of enforcement notices to 35 locations in West Bay and George Town, and also authorised compliance officers to remove the offending signs. The locations include office plazas, restaurants, bars and shopping centres.
CPA approvals
In addition to the above decisions, the authority approved a number of other projects during its 28 March and 11 April meetings, subject to various requirements stipulated by the authority. Here are some of the significant proposals the authority approved:
Paul Rankin: Gift shop Cost: $45,000 Building area: 150 square feet Parcel area: 19.9 acres
Location: Rankin’s Jerk Pit, Shamrock Road, Lower Valley
Doss Solomon: Shipping container to be converted into a jerk stand Cost: $8,300 Building area: 165 square feet Parcel area: 8,712 square feet
Location: Opposite Bodden Beverages on North Church Street
Gencorp Equitable Natwest Corp. Ltd.: After-the-fact modification to the shore-line (reclaimed land) Cost: $150,000 Parcel area: 2.75 acres
Location: Shamrock Road next to Vista Caribe apartment complex in Red Bay area
Cayman Distributors Ltd.: Modify planning permission to expand the recently approved retail space and relocate the bakery and bottling facility to an existing building on the site and increase its floor space Cost: $100,000 Building area: 990 square feet Parcel area: 2.76 acres Location: Eastern Avenue, George Town
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