Approval sought for TCD station and free-standing communications tower

Government is seeking permission to build a satellite TCD testing station near the Rockaway ferry terminal.

Bermuda Emissions Control Ltd., acting for the Ministry of Transport, have applied for the station on Sea Express Lane, Southampton for the testing and inspection of vehicles before re-licensing.

Telecom Bermuda has sought planning approval for a new 175 foot monopole communications tower at No. 40, Schools Drive, Devonshire, as well as a new reinforced concrete foundation.

Ariel Sands Limited has sought permission to build a green house to grow landscaping plants and flowers at the South Shore Road, Devonshire cottage colony.

?We will be doing cuttings and transplanting to our 15 acre property as well as providing fresh flowering plants to our guest rooms and rotating them in and out as they do not thrive long in hotel rooms,? Ariel Sands? General Manager John O?Brien said yesterday.

It?s all change for a gas station in Smith?s Parish which has seen its gas pumps torn up to make way for more up-to-date equipment.

Some of the pumps at the Shell-run Terceira?s gas station on North Shore Road are more than 35 years old and it was time for a make-over, according to bosses at the Shell Company of Bermuda.

Shell?s retail manager Jermaine Simons said: ?Most of the fuel equipment at that station is more than 35 years old. We are going to install up-to-date equipment and we expect the work to take us into January, 2006.?

No wooden cabins for Grace Island

Campers on Grace Island, in the Little Sound will have to use tents for the time being, after the Development Applications Board (DAB) last week said wooden cabins were ?unsuitable?.

A source from Grace island who did not wish to be named said the wooden cabins would allow the Island to take in more campers into the winter months.

?Any winds over 25 knots and we cannot use tents, which restricts the size of groups we can take in. If we get cabins then we do not have to worry about winds unless they are storm force,? he said. ?I am disappointed. It?s not going to change how we are running it. We are still using tents that people need to put up.?

At first Grace Trust wanted to apply for the construction of concrete buildings on Grace Island but was recommended by the Department of Planning that wooden cabins would be more ?in keeping with the facility?, he said.

Arthur Hodgson?s application rejected

Former Environment Minister had his application for a boundary adjustment in Hamilton Parish refused by the Development Applications Board (DAB) last week.

The DAB refused Arthur Hodgson?s application for a boundary adjustment on lots #2 & #3 on Mount Wyndham Drive saying it was contrary to section 7.7 of the Bermuda Plan 1992 Planning Statement. This section states that no vacant lot shall be created where the building position is within 100 feet of the high water mark.

D&J want to replace storage building

D&J Excavation and Landscaping Limited has sought planning approval for a new paint shop and storage room in Bailey?s Bay.

D&J sought approval from the Development Applications Board (DAB) to extend their garage at No. 5, Callen Glen Drive in Hamilton parish. ?We have outgrown the place,? D&J managing director Joe Sousa said yesterday.

D&J operations manager and director Emanuel Furtado explained 20 years ago the company had only five pieces of equipment but now had over 150 pieces of equipment.

Mr. Sousa said D&J stored cranes, trucks as well as 23 container chassis- used to transport containers from the docks-at the Bailey?s Bay facility. The expensive equipment needed to be routinely painted to maintain it, he said, but this was presently being done in the mechanics shop.

?It was uncomfortable for the mechanics with the fumes and overspray,? he said. ?They had to cover the parts and were even spraying outside.?

Mr. Furtado added it also wanted to rearrange the yard, add another building and tear down a decapitated shed.