Planning permit approved
for Caravanserai Resort
Casino licence to be granted
PHILIPSBURG--After eighteen months of objections and waiting, Caravanserai Beach Resort is now on the verge of receiving a planning permit for its US $25 million room expansion and upgrading project.
By a vote of nine to one, the Island Council last night approved a motion rendering inadmissible an appeal by Princess Juliana International Airport operating company PJIAE against the granting of the permit. The airport will be informed of this decision by the council.
The resort is also to receive a casino licence once it complies with guidelines set by the Island Council in an approved motion.
People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) Island Councilwoman Gracita Arrindell was the lone Island Council member who voted against the motion making the appeal inadmissible. She cited her concerns that the project could have implications for airport and aviation safety.
The expansion project provides for five new buildings, one of them three storeys high and four of them five storeys high, for a total of 218 available hotel rooms to be built at Beacon Hill, south of the airstrip. The maximum height of the buildings will be 15.85 metres. (See related story.)
The airport operating company objected to the construction, claiming it would interfere with the obstacle-free zone for landing aircraft, leaving insufficient manoeuvring room and emergency escape route.
The resort can also look forward to a casino licence that it has so far been denied. A motion was approved by the Island Council mandating the Executive Council to grant the licence once resort developer Kildare Properties N.V. “satisfactorily demonstrates” that financing for the expansion is in place and the construction period will not exceed 24 months from the date the building permit is issued.
Democratic Party (DP) Island Councilwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus tabled the motion, which was supported by DP Commissioners Sarah Wescot-Williams, Roy Marlin, Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers and Louie Laveist.
The motion was also supported by National Alliance Councilmen William Marlin, Hyacinth Richardson and George Pantophlet. National Alliance member Frans Richardson was not at the meeting due to the birth of his first child.
National Alliance leader William Marlin, while pointing out that the Executive Council was within its right to grant a licence at any time, supported the motion because he believed the developer had endured “heinous treatment” from government and had suffered losses in the 18 months it had waited for the permit.
The first section of Caravanserai Beach Resort was demolished in July, as the developer anticipated the granting of the permit. The first phase of the project comprises 42 new ocean view timeshare units, 12 hotel rooms, an infinite edge pool, a children’s pool and a Jacuzzi. The second phase will include 20 full-ownership condominiums.
St Maarten vacation rental
