By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Town Planning Committee refused an application to construct a grocery store, liquor store and takeaway shack on Colony Village Road off Prince Charles Drive, delighting residents who opposed the development.

Residents voiced their concerns about the project during a town hall meeting on July 2.

Director of Physical Planning Charles Zonicle said in a letter The Tribune obtained that the Town Planning Committee refused the proposal, citing “inappropriate land uses on the subject site” and the fact that the project would “amount to over-development of site” due to limited on-site parking spaces and limited space for on-site circulation.

Youngfeng and Shiyin Huang had submitted the application, according to the letter.

Eric Lopez, a Colony Village East Subdivision resident for the past 40 years, complained yesterday that construction materials and machinery were still at the construction site despite the rejection.

“From that town meeting, they were told not to continue that construction, but we see that work continues,” he said. “We just wanna make sure that we get this sorted out because you know how things happen, and next thing you know, despite everything, even the government saying it shouldn’t happen, it still happens.”

Mr Lopez said residents had discussed the matter in a community chat group for two weeks.

According to Mr Lopez, notwithstanding the government’s technical objections to the project, residents are not interested in the development.

“This is on the entrance of Colony Village,” he said. “We don’t want a bar. We don’t want a restaurant there. The residents who have been here for over 48 years, we’ve never had any such thing in this community, and there’s not one resident of this community who supports that.”