(CNS): An application by Cayman Enterprise City to expand and modify its Planned Area Development on a 75.5-acre site in the South Sound mangrove basin has raised “grave concerns” about further seasonal flooding of homes and existing developments in the area. The Department of Environment has said the revised plan is likely to make a bad situation even worse.

The CEC PAD, which was granted planning permission in December 2015, has changed significantly since that original application. It is also now one of a series of new and pending developments in the basin. As well as raising concerns for the DoE, the National Roads Authority and the Water Authority, objections have been submitted to the Central Planning Authority by dozens of residents in the area.

Expressing concern about flooding, the height of the building and the density of the residential areas, objectors said the plan “bears little resemblance to the original” application to provide office space for the special economic zone on a sustainably-designed campus. The development is now predominantly a residential subdivision, with the mixed-use element scaled back.

Given the environmental concerns and the significant changes, the objectors are calling for a review of the original PAD application and said it should be subject to an environmental impact assessment. The original plan had incorporated the natural environment with lakes and green space, but the objectors said that in the new masterplan, the lakes had been removed and the open spaces reduced.

Since the site is almost all wetland, except for the footprint of the first commercial building under construction, it would entail a significant loss of mangroves. This and the removal of the lakes to provide more land for development and a number of other technical changes are all likely to exacerbate flooding and contaminate the South Sound lagoon.

For years, the DoE has stressed the need for a comprehensive stormwater management strategy for the South Sound drainage basin. The severe fragmentation of the basin means these wetlands can no longer absorb, filter and drain the stormwater as they once did.

In their submissions on the revised project, the DoE experts warned that the proposed increase in total area, the density of development and increased areas of hard structures will exacerbate the already serious flooding now happening in surrounding developments.

“Without a regional stormwater management plan, this flooding will get worse,” the DoE warned again. “During the wet season, impounded rainwater remains within the basin and has limited means of escape. As more and more development is brought forward, the implications of removing the stormwater retention capacity of the basin become increasingly significant and problematic due to the potential flood risk for properties within the basin.”

In January 2015, the DoE, Water Authority and the National Roads Authority submitted a memo to the planning ministry raising significant concerns about continued development in this area without an adequate comprehensive stormwater management strategy.

The agencies recommend a hydrological assessment of the basin and rolling out a management plan, including drainage engineering specifications for future development. Rather than requiring each development to deal with water management in isolation, the experts said a basin-wide approach was “urgently required”.

But despite that urgency and the continued approval of developments since, there has still been no action to address the problem, leading to more and more flooding in areas such as Randyke Gardens. Objectors said the majority of homes in South Sound are low-density, single-family homes that are at direct risk from the revised project, and owners are genuinely concerned that their homes will be flooded

The new plan will cause both environmental and social damage to South Sound, one group of objectors has said. Another group is calling on CEC to host a town hall meeting to discuss the impact this proposed project will have on the broader community before it is heard by the CPA.

CEC began life in 2011 as a way of attracting inward investment during the economic downturn. The UDP government at the time encouraged the idea of a campus to create jobs and bolster the economy. However, twelve years on, the economic, social, political and natural environment has changed significantly.

The revised application is listed on the Central Planning Authority website for next Wednesday, but CNS understands that the hearing has since been postponed.