The permit.
PHILIPSBURG--Former Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure VROMI Egbert Doran, now a Member of Parliament representing the National Alliance, issued a residential permit for the commercial condo hotel The West Vue in Cupecoy against the advice of his policy department.
The permit issued for Certificate of Admeasurement 013/1968, legally allowing the construction of a three-level building, was issued on February 9, 2024. Under the guise of this residential permit, preparations are ongoing for the construction of an 18-level luxury condo hotel, without the Civil Works permit needed for land clearing as well as the current excavation and rock drilling for the planned underground parking garage.
The residential permit request was submitted by architect Wouter Schipper of DAM Caribbean NV, designer of the two-tower commercial building on a 3,220-square-metre lot, consisting of six parcels. However, these six parcels were not registered at the Kadaster in Philipsburg as being one.
On September 3, 2023, the Policy Department of the Ministry of VROMI concluded an assessment regarding “DAM Caribbean project WEST VUE RESIDENCES in Cupecoy, Lowlands. Exemption request from Article 12, Bouw en Woningverordening.” The architect had requested an exemption from the Building Ordinance allowing the developer to build close to surrounding properties.
Article 12 of the National Building Decree states that: “The owner is required to ensure that behind every newly constructed or partially renovated house, or next to one of its side walls, a space is left open over the entire width of the rear facade or the side wall of the house, on the land to be developed. This space must be at least half the height of the adjacent rear facade or side wall, with a minimum of 2.5 metres, measured perpendicular to the direction of the adjacent rear facade or side wall.”
Based on this article, the Ministry of VROMI concluded that, in the case of the 56-metre-high condo hotel The West Vue, a distance of 27 metres to the borders of the building site would have to be adhered to. However, DAM Caribbean requested to be allowed a distance of just five metres all around the building site.
The September 3, 2023 memo from the VROMI Policy Department states: “The policy department was asked to advise, in particular, on the request of the developer to deviate from Article 12 of the Building Ordinance. This request was assessed based on the Draft Zoning Plan for Lowlands, the Building Ordinance, the Zoning Ordinance, the Parking Standards, and the Electricity Ordinance.”
The main conclusions of this assessment were that the lot is zoned as ‘Residential-1’, where the maximum building density is 40% and the maximum building height is 10 metres, or three floor levels.
The Policy Department concluded that the proposed building height of 56 metres and density of approximately 50% do not comply with the draft zoning regulations.
The second conclusion was that Article 12 of the Building Ordinance regulates that a width of half the building height should be kept open between one of the building walls and the lot boundary. “As the proposed setback is only metres, the developer is requesting a setback five times smaller than what is required,” the Policy Department wrote, concluding that “a setback of 5 metres would actually allow a building height of 10 metres, which would fall in line with the draft zoning plan regulations.”
DAM Caribbean argued that some buildings in close proximity to the proposed one are also not in line with Article 12. In response, the Policy Department stated, “Note that in the Building Ordinance there is no exemption or deviation clause allowing for deviation from regulations in the ordinance.”
The Policy Department further took into account Article 22, paragraph 5, of the Building Ordinance, which regulates that a building permit may be denied if the building is disfiguring, a nuisance, and/or a fire hazard for the surrounding environment. In reference to a map of the area, the Policy Department stated that “the neighbouring area in the west consists of a pool, basketball field, and one building of the CIA school. Besides that, there is another lot consisting of one residential apartment building.”
The height of the proposed building may not be a nuisance to the pool, the basketball field, and the CIA building, the Policy Department stated. “However, for the significantly lower apartment building in the west corner of two floors, the proposed building height may be perceived as overshadowing and a hindrance or nuisance. Especially because the balconies of the apartment building are faced towards the proposed building. In addition, it seems as if the entrance to this building is situated on the lot in question. It is unclear what will happen to this entrance when the building is realised. Some clarity would need to be provided on this by the developer.”
The “Conclusion and Advice” from the Policy Department stated: “There is no ponderous or urgent reason given by the developer [DAM Caribbean, Ed.] as to why the setback needs to change so significantly. It can be considered to allow a small deviation based on the gelijkheidsbeginsel principle regulated in the Algemene Wet Bestuursrecht. However, this would need legal advising as well.”
In light of Article 22 of the Building Ordinance, the Policy Department concluded that the proposed building may be a hindrance to the next-door apartment owners. Furthermore, the policy advisors pointed out that the Electricity Ordinance would have to be taken into account and that a Civil Works permit was required for the installation of a septic tank and construction of a pool.
To date, behind the CIA school wall, a new septic tank sits for large immigrant workers’ barracks that were not included in the plans DAM Caribbean submitted for the permit request to the Ministry of VROMI. The septic tank was installed without a Civil Works permit, while other activities for which a Civil Works permit is required—such as the felling of Flamboyant trees and other important trees, destruction of the asphalt-covered Jordan Road, and raising of soil levels by more than a metre—were also done without a permit.
Moreover, the current excavation for the underground parking garage is executed without a permit.
The senior policy advisor involved in the advice to former Minister of VROMI Doran, Raitza Narain, was promoted to Head of the Policy Department in June 2024.
