By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Editor

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

PLANS for the Neveah Group Enterprises’ Palazzo Vista Del Mar project - to be located on a 21,000 square foot site south of Da Plantation Bar and Grill off West Bay Street - were shot down by physical planning officials who considered the project to be an “over-development” of the site.

The luxury condo project was set to feature a total of 20 three-bedroom units priced between $700,000 and $1.2m with an investment value of $18m to $20m.

The Department of Physical Planning said density limits the development to 30 people or 18 bedrooms on site.

“Kindly note that the application was refused for the reason such as the proposed is considered to be an over-development of site and the proposal does not meet the minimum allowable density of 75 person per acre that limits the development to a total of 30 persons on site or 18 bedrooms for the development,” said the Department of Physical Planning.

“Additionally, it should be noted that the committee is willing to review a revised proposal showing a development consisting of a total of 30 bedrooms.”

Last week, neighbours raised concerns about parking, road access and occupancy expectations at a public consultation for the project.

The developers said the units will be occupied mainly by couples, so at full occupancy it may include 40 people, but neighbours argued that the units contain three bedrooms and can be used as AirBnBs so there is no guarantee that guests will not utilise all bedrooms to facilitate up to five guests.

Parking was also a hot topic as the developer had 30 parking spaces allocated for the condominium and argued that they were “more than enough” as each unit was assigned one and a half parking spaces.

It is currently unclear if the developer plans to scale down the project and reapply as they were unavailable for comment up to press time.