The Department of Environment has advised that setback requirements for coastal developments should be applied on a case-by-case basis rather than being granted planning permission based on “blanket” recommendations.
The Development and Planning Regulations state that a 50-foot coastal setback is required for coastal developments.
In its response to an application by NWPR Group to build a $20 million, four-storey apartment building, with a dive shop and restaurant, on North West Point Road in West Bay, next to Westwood Villas, the DoE noted that the development, although set back 50 feet from the shoreline, was closer to the sea than neighbouring properties.
The department pointed out that the NWPR development would be beside a “high energy coastline … which has very deep water close to shore with no fringing reef, meaning there is little natural protection from wave action during inclement weather (both during storms and hurricanes)”.
The DoE said in its submission that the site’s coastline highlighted “the need for site-specific consideration of setbacks instead of an overall ‘blanket’ setback approach for the generalised categories of beaches, ironshore or mangrove coastlines”.
It added that coastal setback recommendations should also be informed by other factors, “such as the off-shore marine environment, historical erosion rates or extreme water levels, rather than adopting arbitrary distances that are not representative of erosion and coastal flooding threats”.
At the 22 June meeting, where the NWPR application was considered, the Central Planning Authority adjourned the matter in order for the applicant to submit revised plans depicting a 12-foot-wide public right of way to the sea on the south side of the property, as well as to notify one of the neighbours of the change to the plans.
The plan for the site is being revised to combine two 6-foot rights of way into a single pathway.
The application for the 48-unit development involves combining three parcels of land and demolishing an existing residence.
Read the full CPA minutes here.
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