Owners at The Commonwealth, Mandalay and Discovery Point Club condos on West Bay Road have all objected to a planning application for a new 10-storey apartment block.
They say the height and design of the building is at odds with surrounding properties, and also expressed concerns about privacy, traffic congestion, access and safety.
One objection letter described it as having the look of a “cruise ship which has unfortunately been left high and dry on the wrong side of the road”.
The proposal for the $30 million complex, next to the Cayman Pickleball Tennis Academy, was submitted to the Central Planning Authority for discussion at its 13 Dec. meeting.
The meeting agenda adds further details to architect plans that were temporarily published online in November for public viewing, as is required by planning regulations.
According to the document, developer Bluecap Investments plans to build the block on a nearly two-acre vacant land parcel on the Seven Mile Beach corridor.
‘The Shores Condos’ will have 49 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments with balconies – a total of 88 bedrooms – a pool and two cabanas.
The blueprints submitted by Blur Workshop, a design firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, also showed large parking areas and a two-storey resident parking block with 87 spaces.
They also detailed an arrival court, yoga lawn, coffee shop, barbecue area and planting.
An application for a 10-storey hotel on the same plot was submitted in March 2019 but was refused because the mass and scale were not in keeping with the character of the area.
Five months later, planning permission was granted for a seven-storey hotel because the authority said it complied with planning regulations and was compatible with the area.
‘Sterile monolith’
Writing on behalf of the owners of The Commonwealth, chair of the executive committee George Wolff, said they “vigorously” object to the development.
In a four-page letter, he explained that when they bought their homes, the maximum building height allowed in the Cayman Islands was just three storeys.
They purchased the units because of the quiet peacefulness of the area, the residential community ambience, and the low density of the accommodation, Wolff said.
Meanwhile, the narrow, tall, high-density design of the proposed building “has the look of a cruise ship which has unfortunately been left high and dry on the wrong side of the road”.
“It is inevitable that the proposed sterile monolith will impact negatively on the value of the units at The Commonwealth and the other homes in the area,” he wrote.
In his other objections, the chair said the application does not conform with regulations because drawings which fit the requirements were not submitted for inspection.
This “seriously prejudiced” their ability to ascertain what is being proposed, Wolff said.
The lack of setbacks in zoning data also troubled the chair, who added that the side setbacks are narrow and would not be suitable for emergency or refuse vehicles.
He said the public sewerage system does not extend as far north as the proposed site leading to concerns about how the wastewater will be dealt with.
‘High density budget tourists’
Wolff described the building as “markedly” increasing the amount of traffic and congestion due to the residents and patrons of the coffee shop.
He added that the proposed number of parking spaces is unlikely to be sufficient, and a safety hazard may be created by people wanting to cross the road to access the beach.
Other concerns included the noise from the proposed coffee shop, potential trespassing and the positioning of the dumpster.
The owners of Mandalay and Discovery Point Club sent near-identical letters to the Central Planning Authority, saying the development could be a catalyst for more high-rise buildings.
Mandalay property manager Teresa Owen-Foster wrote that the prospect of being cast into the shadow of the hotel and being overlooked is “naturally appalling”.
Todd Cubbon, chairman of the executive committee at Discovery Point Club, suggested that the building is aimed at “high density budget tourists”.
“There are significant concerns that the development will have an adverse impact upon our privacy, and with traffic congestion and safety,” he added.
Meanwhile, a letter from Villa Royale said owners do not have a “direct objection” to the development but have concerns around it.
Strata chair Celita Zimmer wrote that the area is the only remaining quiet part of Seven Mile Beach and said the building should be reduced by two or three storeys.
The Department of Environment also expressed concerns that the site is across from a beach designated as a critical sea turtle nesting habitat.
In its analysis, the DoE said the planning authority should apply for approval from the National Conservation Council before determining the application.
The Central Planning Authority was due to discuss the proposal at the 13 Dec. public meeting; its decision should be published in the minutes three weeks later.
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