News
Housing Projects and Subdivision considered as Physical Planning Board entertains hundreds of Applications
Deandrea Hamilton
Editor
Turks and Caicos, September 4, 2024 – Applications for over 600 housing units were on the agenda for approval when the Physical Planning Board last met in its 765th regular meeting on August 27, 2024; the incredible statistics were reported from one single sitting.
Included in those healthy figures, which in most cases for the island of Providenciales and granted ‘conditional approval’ was 46 town houses and 456 houses in what appears poised to become the island’s two newest communities.
Request was made to progress phases one through five for the three bedroom units in the town house development and the Board has given conditional approval to the more massive development of around 500 homes, where investors have also expressed interest in creating commercial, public recreation and retail spaces as part of the project.
From single storey to four storeys and sprawling properties, the agenda for the PPB was stacked, continuing a trend of significant expenditure on new constructions, expansions and renovations in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Government, through Invest TCI, has crafted investment incentives to generate more interest in housing development in order to reverse the problem of shortages in residential residences.
At the launch of the newly minted Department of Housing, it was explained that a survey revealed people were overspending on rent and that the TCI needed to ensure at least 600 new homes were added to the inventory annually for the next twenty years in order to satisfy demand.
Grand Turk, Parrot Cay, Water Cay and North Caicos were also identified as areas of interest where Physical Planning permission for construction is required.
Roughly 20 apartment units were submitted for approval in Grand Turk, along with eight guest rooms, nine lots and five cabanas.
Overall, three of the applications were deferred, one was refused and one was sent to the Governor’s Office for consideration.
The refusal was for a dive deck to be constructed over the water.
The application which has gone to Governor Daleeni Daniel-Selveratnam is for permission to build out a beach bar, barbeque hut and storage building on Water Cay.
Interest in North Caicos is for vacant land to be split into six lots and request for permission to construct a two storey building with three units.
The PPB also considered applications to build a seawall, timber jetties (which were deferred), signage, sundecks, rock groynes, guest houses and resort styled developments.
In the 764th meeting of the Physical Planning Board, there were applications for 16 apartment buildings, one subdivision and a 24-room hotel. That meeting was held on July 17, 2024.
Next sitting for the Board, which is chaired by Andryell Missick is September 26, 2024.