crescentbeach
SBH Insider
204 Building Permits Approved, Several Were Controversial
6St Barth Weekly n°423Over a period of 12 months, the executive council exa-mined 352 requests for building permits (not including urbanism certificates or construc-tion declarations). Of these, 106 were refused in that they did not respect the rules set out by the plan-ning map. Two permits, at the end of the year, were held in abeyance. The first because the balconies were considered too voluminous in rela-tion to the existing building; the second because the height of the home was judged too high espe-cially in light of the revisions to the urbanism code adopted last year, which intends to decrease the maxi-mum height of buildings. Nicole Gréaux Abstained From Vote On Emeraude Plage Height is one of the major reasons for a debate, among others, concer-ning the building permit approved in December for the future Emeraude Plage, a hotel with 25 rooms and suites (a total of 50 bedrooms) on the beach in St Jean, between Lil’Rock Beach and l’Eden Rock. It will have underground parking, several pools, a restaurant, and a spa... a total of 16 new buildings will replace the for-mer Emeraude Plage, currently being demolished. Two council members abstained from the vote: Marie-Angèle Aubin, who had already expressed her concern about the augmentation of the number of hotel rooms on the island. More sur-prisingly, first vice-president Nicole Gréaux also abstained, but did not reply to our question as to why. Another large project approved in 2019 is Autour du Rocher. The per-mit was reviewed after an appeal from a neighbor, but has now been approved. So the western point above the beach in Lorient will house a property with 24 buildings. The building permit is very clear that, among other things, the colony of white-tailed tropicbirds that lives on the cliffs must not be disturbed by the construction, and there are strict conditions for a high-tech wastewa-ter/sanitation system. More modest but in a strategic loca-tion, Villa Marie also now has a green light to build a beach restau-rant and a habitation on the beach in Saint Jean; a project that had been rejected for insufficient parking. The hotel appealed and was successful. Same scenario for a 10-room bou-tique hotel slated to be built in Lurin. These are but a few of the 204 buil-ding permits approved in 2019. The majority (103) concern already exis-ting structures: post-Irma reconstruc-tion, numerous extensions to houses, and modifications (roof color, adding an enclosure or a pool...). Another 40 are administrative adjustments to already approved permits (proroga-tions, transfers, cancellations). That leaves 101 new buildings, the majo-rity of which are houses and villas, but one project can contain several buildings, such as a complex with 16 bedrooms in Saint Jean, or that of seven houses on a piece of land in Saline, etc. The overall figure also contains a few public projects: two or three EDF transformers, the new infirmary, and an equipment room for SAUR, the water company, close to the reservoir in Colombier, for example. In any case, in considering all these permits, it is hard to ima-gine a slowdown in construction on the island as Bruno Magras has been touting for several months: there is enough work for the next two or three years at least.
6St Barth Weekly n°423Over a period of 12 months, the executive council exa-mined 352 requests for building permits (not including urbanism certificates or construc-tion declarations). Of these, 106 were refused in that they did not respect the rules set out by the plan-ning map. Two permits, at the end of the year, were held in abeyance. The first because the balconies were considered too voluminous in rela-tion to the existing building; the second because the height of the home was judged too high espe-cially in light of the revisions to the urbanism code adopted last year, which intends to decrease the maxi-mum height of buildings. Nicole Gréaux Abstained From Vote On Emeraude Plage Height is one of the major reasons for a debate, among others, concer-ning the building permit approved in December for the future Emeraude Plage, a hotel with 25 rooms and suites (a total of 50 bedrooms) on the beach in St Jean, between Lil’Rock Beach and l’Eden Rock. It will have underground parking, several pools, a restaurant, and a spa... a total of 16 new buildings will replace the for-mer Emeraude Plage, currently being demolished. Two council members abstained from the vote: Marie-Angèle Aubin, who had already expressed her concern about the augmentation of the number of hotel rooms on the island. More sur-prisingly, first vice-president Nicole Gréaux also abstained, but did not reply to our question as to why. Another large project approved in 2019 is Autour du Rocher. The per-mit was reviewed after an appeal from a neighbor, but has now been approved. So the western point above the beach in Lorient will house a property with 24 buildings. The building permit is very clear that, among other things, the colony of white-tailed tropicbirds that lives on the cliffs must not be disturbed by the construction, and there are strict conditions for a high-tech wastewa-ter/sanitation system. More modest but in a strategic loca-tion, Villa Marie also now has a green light to build a beach restau-rant and a habitation on the beach in Saint Jean; a project that had been rejected for insufficient parking. The hotel appealed and was successful. Same scenario for a 10-room bou-tique hotel slated to be built in Lurin. These are but a few of the 204 buil-ding permits approved in 2019. The majority (103) concern already exis-ting structures: post-Irma reconstruc-tion, numerous extensions to houses, and modifications (roof color, adding an enclosure or a pool...). Another 40 are administrative adjustments to already approved permits (proroga-tions, transfers, cancellations). That leaves 101 new buildings, the majo-rity of which are houses and villas, but one project can contain several buildings, such as a complex with 16 bedrooms in Saint Jean, or that of seven houses on a piece of land in Saline, etc. The overall figure also contains a few public projects: two or three EDF transformers, the new infirmary, and an equipment room for SAUR, the water company, close to the reservoir in Colombier, for example. In any case, in considering all these permits, it is hard to ima-gine a slowdown in construction on the island as Bruno Magras has been touting for several months: there is enough work for the next two or three years at least.
