DiveTech Denied Permit to Expand Lighthouse Point Operation

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Comments posted by readers:

August 15, 2019 at 9:13 pm
This is terrible. This is a company that has only done good for the island and it’s people. It employs several locals as dive masters and boat drivers. It just ran the women’s chain thing under the water and donated a ton of money to a local charity. People come from all over the world to dive with Divetech. They should be able to have their own building. There are other dive shops on the same stretch of land so it is not like something new is coming to the neighborhood. This should definitely be approved on appeal.

August 16, 2019 at 11:17 am
Next door on the south side of Lighthouse Point Dive Resort, the dive shop Living the Dream was just Approved a dive shop and a large 3 dive compressor building and it had 14 neighbors objecting, but was approved anyways by the Central Planning Authority.
 
Sounds political?
 
When something new is proposed in an area it goes before the Planning Board —people who are affected are allowed to have their say. They invested in their properties. This is especially important in a residential area. Where there are guests accommodations, people go crazy when they hear the tanks clanging early in the morning. Believe me we know first hand. If a business that makes noise, traffic, etc., was already approved in the area, it is less likely a second one will. Just too much noise and commercial traffic. Would you be happy to have it next to your house or even worse your place of business if that business is providing a nice relaxing vacation to paying guests? I don’t think it is/was personal. This stuff happens all the time. They might be able to work out some sweeteners on the appeal, but honestly if I dive op, fishing, or any type of business that started early or finished late bought the lot next to me I would fight it tooth and nail. I think very highly of Divetech, but it wouldn’t matter if I loved or despised “who” it was, they would be taking something away from me that I paid up for when choosing the location where I live. We get our Nitrox pumped in the location their present pumping facility. I would not want that next door to me even if the actual pumping is done in a silent facility. Ops are picking up and dropping off tanks from early morning until late at night. Absolutely no offense meant to a great dive op, but the folks who invested in homes have rights too.
 
This is especially important in a residential area.

Except that area is not zoned residential only. It's zoned residential/resort, and has been since before all the objectors had purchased there. And it is a very large property, so Divetech could put a massive resort there right now with the existing zoning. The only issue is the compressor.
 
Olin Miller has huge compressors up the road a bit at Turtle Reef. Once you are outside the shop, you can't hear them.
Interesting that LTD was approved and Divetech not. It does smell political. As far as the nearby homeowners, they should have expected that in a mixed use area, there might be some noise in future. In our city, homes in mixed use areas sell for considerably less than those in strictly residential zones. Is that the case in Cayman as well?
 
I can see both sides of the issue. I can understand DiveTech's desire to grow the business and it sounds like a really great expansion plan, and it's important to support local business - but if it was my house next door I might not be too thrilled about the idea!

On the other hand @Tienuts makes a good point that the area has been zoned resort and residential for a long time so I guess that the residents shouldn't be too surprised about the possibility of business development in their neighborhood.
 
Does LTD fill Nitrox tanks for other ops? Divetech does. Tanks are dropped off from the wee hours in the morning until perhaps after night dives in the evening. Two other factors are that LTD did it first so the dynamic on local roads and businesses was taken into consideration. Possibly it was considered all the area could absorb. Secondly, maybe other stakeholders, ie those with rental properties etc are fighting even harder. If you created a local business that came under resort heading with guests paying for chill time, would you be happy with trucks rolling in and out at 6:30 am. Be fair. When Watercolours went up their was outrage over the “noise” the RSS tank cart made loading two boats in the morning. Multiply that by several ops loading and unloading tanks. Think of the other business owners with guests who may want to sleep in. There is a difference between residential/resort and industrial. Tank trunks run more to the industrial side as do loading and unloading tanks as opposed to taxis loading and unloading guests with luggage. Every business here has to have a majority local partner... lots of speculation on this thread.
 
I'm a firm believer in a level playing field. What's OK for LTD or Sundivers should theoretically be OK for another operator as well.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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