The owners and potential developers of Aqua Bay have made a fresh attempt to get approval for their plans to demolish the 35-year-old, three-storey West Bay property and replace it with a luxury, 10-storey block, which will reach almost 130 feet high.
Plans filed earlier this year for a glass-and-steel tower of 38 apartments were met with strong local objections over the risk of increased noise and pollution, traffic bottlenecks and adverse effects on sea turtle nesting sites.
The plans were rejected by the Central Planning Authority in March, which ruled that the design breached regulations, which limit developments to 130 feet or 10 storeys, whichever is less.
The Butler Development Group, which built the current 21-apartment condo complex in the 1980s, has now submitted a new application, which owner Brian Butler said “fully met the objections” made by the CPA, by reducing the number of storeys as defined by law, including redesigning the roof deck and basement.
Addressing the CPA meeting, Butler said that it was the first time he had been rejected for planning permission in more than 40 years as a property developer, but that he was now “respectfully asking for your approval so that we may proceed”.
A representative of the Aqua Bay Club said that it had been noticed that the site was starting to degrade before the pandemic and that a vote had been taken by all 21 owners to pursue redevelopment of the site.
“We voted to pursue a better alternative,” he said. “I don’t think we are asking for anything unreasonable.”
The case has proved controversial with local owners and residents, who say that the character of the area will be totally changed by the application. The redevelopment of Aqua Bay from three storeys to 10, they say, could potentially block out light to homes and restrict views of the ocean and sunsets over Seven Mile Beach.
There were 36 official objectors to the case, all of whom own properties within one of the two strata complexes neighbouring the Aqua Bay site – The Palms and Silver Sands.
Their legal representative, Kate McClymont of Nelsons Legal, told Cayman Compass that it was “disappointing to see that, rather than addressing the substance of the concerns raised by the objectors and the CPA on the last occasion on which the application was heard, by scaling back the proposal, the applicant cynically sought to repackage the previous proposal to evade the limits imposed by the Development and Planning Regulations.”
She added, “The scale and impact of the proposal is the same as it was the last time the application was heard. I am optimistic that the CPA will acknowledge this ruse, and the application will once again be refused.”
A representative of both The Palms and Silvers Sands stratas, which are situated on either side of the Aqua Bay strata, said:
“As owners of adjacent properties, we are hopeful that the CPA will consider all the quality of life issues negatively impacted by this super-sized re-development. Not only for the immediate area in terms of overshadowing sunlight, reflective hot spots off the glass, increased traffic woes on a dangerous curve, three or more years of construction noise and debris on West Bay Road, potential sinkhole creation from mass ironshore excavation, just to name a few, but more generally the permanent and irreversible change of character of the last little stretch of tranquility on Seven Mile Beach.
“Visitors and West Bay residents alike have loved the area and beach for decades for its beauty and relative calm. Approval of such an out of character building would be the first step of transformation of this section of Caymanian charm into just another Miami Beach. We fervently hope the CPA sees this in the bigger picture of where it would lead, and do what’s best for the future vision of the island.”
The CPA is expected to publish its findings in a few weeks’ time.
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I am a US citizen & have visited Cayman in 2022. I was drawn there because of its simplicity, beautiful beaches, snorkeling and safety. As far as erosion, it’s happening everywhere, but seawalls, high rises, and excessive development will only exacerbate the damage. Please keep your island simple. Ban the huge cruise ships like other islands do. Stop the sea walls & development along the shoreline!
Please stop the overdevelopment of 7 Mile Beach. In the end its going to be the demise of Cayman as people used to flock there for its serenity, simplicity and safety… aspects, ALL of which are sadly disappearing.
All we need to do is read the comments in this Story, and talk to visitors who have been coming to Cayman for decades. They are all saying the same thing….we are destroying a good thing! We are rushing headlong into “short term gain for long term pain!!”
If the CPA approves this large rebuilding project, without awaiting for new Directives or legislation (Law or Regulations) governing the Setback limits, as well as a new Development Plan, then we will soon see the northern end of 7 Mile Beach become like the disaster that is happening on the southern end of the Beach. Can’t we learn…in the face of such obvious evidence?? Has Greed and “glitz” blinded us that much??
Congratulations, CPA, for having no awareness of what TOURISTS have come to Cayman for as illustrated by the recent years interest in West Bay in search of why Cayman has drawn them in the first place. You’ve ruined that last bastion of ‘old Cayman’ and irrevocably set the tourist industry, that you claim you are promoting, into a downward trajectory. Just in the past decade, the entire charm of Grand cayman has been nearly completely been destroyed; the changes in the past 4 or 5 are likely immeasurable. You should be ashamed of yourselves for the total disregard of your citizens and their heritage, not to mention the environment. To all the speculators who purchased units in Aqua Bay just to flip them – you know who you are and your greed is shameful – you should make your flip quickly because tourism is shifting in a downward trajectory. Tourists no longer want to be shuffled into large monuments to excess and waste, fight for beach space and be surrounded by glass and cement. Tourism is looking for a natural respite and you are sadly well behind the curve and Grand Cayman will suffer the over-development quite needlessly.