Belmont Hills/Newstead has been awarded a special development order which will expedite the redevelopment of the new Newstead hotel, developer Kevin Petty said yesterday.

But, despite Mr. Petty's assurances to the contrary, residents of the area continued to voice their concerns about the 104-room development.

The special development order still requires the development company to follow the usual Planning procedures, including checks with the Environment Authority on sewage disposal and the Ministry of Works and Engineering on access.

However it means the company will not be appealing to the Planning Board but directly to the Minister of the Environment, Environment permanent secretary Brian Rowlinson said yesterday.

Special development orders are often awarded to hotel developments, he said, citing Daniel's Head, Sonesta, Belmont, the Cliffs and Bermuda Properties as examples.

Mr. Rowlinson said such an order is usually awarded either when there is some issue that the Board does not have the power to decide on and must be left to the Minister, or when the development is of significant enough national importance.

That was the case in this instance, Mr. Petty said. The Newstead development will consist of building a 104-room hotel, he said, a development which has not been seen in Bermuda for years.

“This is about tourism and revitalising the tourism industry, in my opinion ... This is just an umbrella over the whole development saying what we can and cannot do.”

The order is “just part of the process”, Mr. Petty said.

Everything to do with hotel development has to go through a committee made up of the Immigration, Planning, Finance, and Tourism Departments and Ministries, and Belmont Hills/Newstead began making presentations to that committee and right up to the Cabinet level a year ago.

Mr. Petty said he could not speak to rumours that the Planning Board was unhappy with the special development order in view of area residents' objections to the Newstead plans.

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact the Planning Department on the issue yesterday.

Area landlord Charles Zuill said residents were “kind of shocked” that the order had been passed.

Mr. Zuill said he was told by a Planning officer that, if there were a substantial number of objections, the Board would meet and residents would have representation to the Board.

“He said ten (was a serious number of objections),” Mr. Zuill said. “I think there were 13.”

Those objections included documents half an inch thick from architectural firms, he said.

Residents were not objecting to the development, he clarified, but to the extent of that development. The development will take Newstead from 41 rooms to 104 rooms, arranged into 41 suites and five cottages.

Fellow resident Peter Dunne also admitted his frustration with the project, especially its size.

“I'm not thrilled with the thought of a bigger property there,” he said. “But the Minister obviously feels it's in the country's best interests.”