By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Love Beach residents said they were not formally notified of The View Love Beach project being approved and found out about the approval “through the grapevine.”

Dominique Strachan, a resident of Palms of Love Beach next to the proposed development, told Tribune Business that if the project goes over the 28 feet high covenant in the zoning by-laws the developer would be breaking the law.

Referring to Luther Smith, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works who said that the project’s developer, Austrian billionaire Dr Mirko Kovats, had the restrictive covenants on height restrictions “extinguished,” Ms Strachan said this was foolishness and that she intends to show clearly that the property should be zoned for buildings no higher than 28 feet.

Zoning documents for the Love Estates area that were shown to Tribune Business also show that each lot should have only one main resident or dwelling as typical for residential areas. So while the height restrictions have been extinguished, the matter outstanding would be the condominium and plans that are being discussed The View Love Beach, inclusive of a spa, restaurants and other communal features.

At a virtual Town Hall meeting on this project held on November 13, 2020, Alexander Christie, lawyer from McKinney Bancroft and Hughes for the Mylor Group, the company said to be the vehicle behind the development, said that there will be “no re-zoning” of Love Beach to a commercial area.

However, residents do not believe that this project will not turn into a commercial venture as much of it is being kept in the dark.

Ms Strachan also said: “It’s not zoned commercial, it is residential. We have all the covenants and there lawyers from Callenders and Co and from Lennox Paton were all at the town hall meeting with us and presented all of the paperwork and Dr Kovatz’s representatives couldn’t even open their mouths because they had no answer for us. They knew we were right.

“Like I said, they were declined and had to go back to the drawing board because they cannot build more than two storeys high and they cannot have any commercial enterprise on any of the lots. It’s a bunch of foolishness and we have all of the supporting documents.”

Another resident of the Love Beach area, speaking under condition of anonymity, added: “None of us got any letter saying that this project was approved. We

found out about that through another resident, but I haven’t received any letter to say that this project was approved by any appeals committee.”

Rejecting Mr Smith’s claim that residents were formally notified by letter when Town Planning Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (TPSDAB) made its decision in late August, they continued, “We heard about it after the fact through the grapevine and through social media that they were approved on appeal, but they were not transparent with this deal at all. We don’t know anything about this project.

“We don’t even know what this project looks like anymore since it was rejected by the Town Hall meeting that we had. Nobody knows what this project looks like and the developer is not talking to the community, but yet this project is supposed to start in two weeks. How is this going to affect our community and our property value? This project is too big for our community. A development like this is not for this community.”

All of the members of the board of the TPSDAB were away on holiday and could not be reached for comment, neither could minutes of the meeting where the project was approved could be made available.