Plans for a church hall have been refused due to concerns it could damage the Harrington Sound cave system.

The Development Applications Board has turned down Planning permission for the 192-seat 'multi-purpose building' in Club Road, Smith's, due to environmental and traffic concerns.

The plans, submitted by Gladwyn Smith on behalf of The Open Door Christian Assembly, included a stage, auditorium and meeting rooms plus parking spaces for 30 cars and 30 motorbikes. But the development attracted protest by more than 50 neighbours, in the form of a petition.

In an accompanying letter to Planning, resident Jameka Kelly said neighbours were concerned the building would become the church group's new centre of worship. She said The Open Door Christian Assembly already held Sunday services at The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Roberts Avenue, Devonshire.

"What need is there for this church to have a multi-purpose auditorium when they already have a fixed location that is the suitable capacity to act as an auditorium?", she asked.

"It is our concern that the outlying motive for this auditorium is to function mainly as their church."

Neighbours also claimed the 60 parking spaces would be inadequate to accommodate 192 people, thus leading to church-goers parking in their driveways. They also pointed out that a community building already existed opposite the proposed site, and so it would only lead to traffic noise and congestion.

"To propose to have two multi-purpose buildings on the same road within feet of each other would be a nightmare to neighbouring residents," said Ms Kelly.

There were also environmental concerns.

"It must also be noted that at present, Lot Two, Club Road, which has recently been developed as the home of the applicant is within feet of a cave. These caves that exist near to and under his home will also be under this proposed building," said Ms Kelly.

"It is known that the caves connect to the existing Devil's Hole Aquarium, a historic tourist attraction. It is our concern that his home in addition to this proposed building would cause increased stress to these underlying caves, not to mention the environmental impact such as sewage and necessary excavation."

The DAB concluded the 4,144 sq ft building would encroach on a cave formation to the east. The committee said in a report: "The application also encroaches upon a Section 34 Agreement along the south and eastern portion of the site, which protects a cave formation from any future development."

The applicant also failed to gain a neighbour's consent to the project.

The DAB said: "Specifically, the applicant has not provided consent from the affected neighbour."

It refused Planning permission as the building "fails to conform with the provisions of the Development and Planning (Application Procedure) Rules, 1997, in that insufficient information has been submitted to enable a proper assessment of the proposal to be undertaken for compliance with the Bermuda Plan 1992 Planning Statement".

The committee was also not satisfied the application complied with Section Three of the Bermuda Plan 1992 Planning Act, in terms of scale, vehicular access and "the potential impact of the development on the human, natural and built environments of the area".

It said excavation would also involve rock cuts in excess of 4ft within the 10ft lot line setback along the northern and southern boundaries — contrary to the 1992 Bermuda Plan.

In addition, the Ministry of Works and Engineering expressed "reservations as to how the traffic flow will be regulated at the junction of Club Road and Harrington Sound Road and that visibility of oncoming traffic is impaired".