Activists urge voters to lobby MPs over LC resort – Cayman Islands Headline News – Cayman News Service

(CNS): The decision by the Cayman Brac and Little Cayman Development Control Board (DCB) to hear and grant an application dealing with only part of a controversial resort project in Little Cayman flies in the face of environmental, social and economic responsibility, local activists have said.

Amplify Cayman, a group of concerned citizens, described the decision as salami slicing because the development has a contentious over-water bungalow component that is still to be decided.

The Little Cayman District Committee of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands is also urging people to contact their MPs. Posting on social media, it said the Marine Park belongs to all of Cayman, not just one developer.

Since Cabinet has not yet heard that coastal works application, there is a window of opportunity for people to lobby their representatives about this unprecedented and unsustainable proposal, the committee said.

If you do not wish for Cabinet to give away or sell part of a National Marine Park that belongs to all of the people of the Cayman Islands for the enrichment of a private developer, make your feelings known to your MP, minister, or member of Cabinet, the LC branch of the Trust stated.

While the DCB had no problem approving the land component of the project, the Department of Environment has raised multiple concerns about it, including the decision to hear just one part of the project. DoE experts have already urged the government to refuse the necessary coastal works licence, describing the idea of over-water bungalows in a marine park as fundamentally unacceptable.

In an open letter sent to MPs, the media and posted across social media, Amplify Cayman raised a number of issues about the decision of the Sister Islands board to hear this application, as well as the catalogue of issues presented by the proposed development.

The developers have stated that the economic viability of the project depends on the overwater bungalows. Therefore, Amplify said, they had great difficulty understanding why this segment of the application was heard by the board in isolation given the obvious interdependence.

In its technical report, the DoE has laid out all of the reasons why the coastal works licence should be refused. This is the first application in Cayman seeking permission from the government, from a single developer for a one-off fee, to profit from the crown, namely publicly-owned seabed in a marine protected zone, an issue that has never been discussed.

In addition to that obvious and extremely contentious issue, there are an array of environmental problems with the project in relation to building hotel rooms over the water.

The DoE advice to refuse the project and develop a policy on over-water development was passed to Cabinet several months ago, but no decision has yet been made. CNS contacted the premier regarding the project and how the application is being handled, but his office explained he was unable to comment as the costal works application has not yet been before the Cabinet.

Nevertheless, the decision to approve the landside of the project appears to be yet another decision in a line of many over the last few months under the planning ministry that directly conflict with the stated PACT policies and Pantons Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resiliency, which has responsibility for the Department of Environment.

In its open letter, Amplify Cayman sets out the continued and growing concerns across the Cayman community that, despite claims by the authorities that they are concerned about over-development, climate change and environmental conservation, there is little evidence of any action to address it.

One of the first steps in addressing climate action is to preserve nature. Considering such a project in 2022 in such a zone seems completely out of touch with the reality of climate change, the activists stated, noting their concerns about the failure to consult the public on this significant proposed project.

Not only has public input been restricted as interested parties on the land-based aspect of the project, but the DoEs expert advice on the matter is blatantly being disregarded, they wrote.

Referring to the Cayman Islands Environmental Charter and the Bill of Rights, Amplify said the decision shreds the spirit of the Constitution, and called for a review and update of planning policies and for MPs to bring the general question of over-water Marine Reserve development to Parliament for debate.

The dismissal of expert advice and public concern, the obvious disregard for negative environmental and socio-economic impacts, and the apparent direct conflict with the 2001 Environment Charter, our Constitutional Bill of Rights, the UNs Sustainable Development Goals and internationally recognized best practice for Climate Action, make this project and the DPB decision unjustifiable, the activists said, as they urged the community to make their feelings known.

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Activists urge voters to lobby MPs over LC resort - Cayman Islands Headline News - Cayman News Service