The Bank of Bermuda Limited has been refused Planning permission to build a seven-storey building on Front Street.

The bank said it was disappointed but would appeal the Development Application Board (DAB) decision to Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield.

?Bank of Bermuda is disappointed that our revised Planning application for the redevelopment of 39 Front Street has been refused by the Development Application Board,? a Bank of Bermuda spokeswoman said yesterday in a release.

?At this time we are reviewing all options available to us which include making an appeal to the Minister of the Environment as previously stated.? In its meeting held on March 22, the DAB decided to refuse the bank?s application ? revised on February 3 ? to build a new seven-storey mixed use commercial development, with a new pedestrian lane and gathering space on Reid Street and numbers 39, 41 and 43 Front Street because it was too big for that location.

?The siting, scale, massing, height, setback encroachments, appearance and layout of the proposed development is not considered to be appropriate for this site and will not enhance the surrounding area,? it said.

It also said the number of proposed storeys on Reid Street and Front Street did not comply with the Bermuda Plan 1992 Planning Statement.

The bank?s plan also did not enhance the established historic, architectural or cultural character of the historic area of Front Street, it said.

?The proposed floor-to-floor heights exceed the maximums provided for in the City of Hamilton Plan and this feature combined with encroachments into the minimum required set backs and additional storeys results in an unacceptable scale, massing and height of development,? it said.

The 2001 Plan states that storey heights should not normally exceed 14 feet in the first storey and 12 feet for all other storeys.

Neither did the bank?s plan comply with the upper storey setbacks on either Reid or Front Streets as required by the City of Hamilton Plan 2001.

The 2001 Plan said the upper storey of a building is required to be set back from the building front by at least ten feet. The bank also did not provide a required 15-foot street-level setback on Reid Street as set out in the City of Hamilton Plan 2001, it said.