Plans to revitalise the former Grape Bay Hotel in Paget have been given the green light.

The application, submitted by the Design Group on behalf of Grape Bay Holdings, the owners of the White Sands Hotel, proposed converting 40 hotel rooms on the site to 18 suites.

The proposal also included a renovation of the pool area, additional guest parking and improved vehicle access to the South Shore site.

While the proposal had drawn concern from neighbours about the potential impact on nearby properties, the Development Applications Board approved it at their meeting last week.

A report by a planning officer supported the application, despite worries that a bar included in the proposal would be “injurious” to the largely residential area.

“Some of the landowners within the neighbourhood are against the bar as it is believed that it will create unwanted noise and disorderly parking arrangements,” the report said.

“However, the department considers the use of a bar in a hotel be implicit. Moreover, the tourism use on the site has been established and is longstanding.

“The department is of the opinion that any nuisances that may arise from the bar should be regulated by the liquor license authority. Furthermore, the proposal has taken steps to improve on site parking, which the department considers sufficient.”

The application said the proposal would be a net positive, removing or renovating derelict structures on the property and creating an “all-suite boutique hotel”, which would add new suites to the island’s hotel inventory.

The project would reduce the maximum number of guests at the site from 80 to 53 but increase green space on the property by 30 per cent and reduce building cover in the area by 20 per cent.

The proposal sparked three letters of objection and one letter of concern focused on the impact that increased noise and traffic would have on the neighbourhood.

The White Sands hotel first welcomed guests in 1953 but closed just before its 50th anniversary in 2002.

The hotel was refurbished and its 40 rooms reopened as the Grape Bay Beach Hotel the next year.

From 2010 to 2012, it was leased by the Bermuda Hospitals Board for nurse accommodations, but the property has since fallen out of use.

The planning officer noted that the property had historically been zoned for tourism use, but was one of 13 hotel properties rezoned as residential in the most recent review of the Bermuda Plan.

The report added: “It should be noted that the department does not have any record of any formal change of use application for the site.

“Similarly, the Department of Land Valuation has the property described as a tourist hotel with one assessment number.”