piling up with two nearby hotels and "a half a dozen'' others filing letters of protest yesterday, the official deadline.

Horizons Cottages manager Mr. Wilhelm Sack said he is against the plans because a proposed six-storey conference centre -- which would be two stories higher than Elbow Beach Hotel -- would block the ocean views of many of his guest cottages as well as the dining room terrace.

He added Horizons, an old farm house, is one of Bermuda's oldest buildings and is known for its views -- hence the name.

"It's (the conference centre) just too big and bloated,'' said Mr. George Wardman of Horizons Limited, which owns Horizons Cottages and the Coral Beach Club. He is objecting on behalf of both properties.

He said the conference centre would be a "terrible obstruction'' to the view from Coral Beach Club's guest cottages. "It will probably ruin the view from the dining terrace at Horizons,'' he added.

Mr. Wardman further said the 11 planned "Palace Suites'' -- to be housed in a two-storey mini-hotel standing right above the beach -- would "dominate the whole hillside of Elbow Beach'' and be "unsightly'' to guests in many of his cottages. The Coral Beach Club is next to the Elbow Beach Hotel and Horizons Cottages is across the road.

"I feel we are being surrounded by skyscrapers,'' Mr. Wardman charged. He added he was also concerned about the added noise pollution and traffic which would come with a 120 new guest rooms, a 20,000-square-foot conference centre, the 11 palace suites and 39 luxury three- and four-bedroom "villa'' condominiums dotted around the Fritholme estate property recently bought by the hotel.

The Royal Gazette understands several residents have also filed objections or are planning to hand deliver them on Monday morning.

One resident who filed his objection yesterday, Mr. Malcolm Kirkland, said he was very concerned about an increase in noise pollution in the South Shore, Paget, neighbourhood in which he grew up.

And he said that being a former member of the parks system he was concerned the proposed development would encroach on a piece of national park off Elbow Beach.

Mr. Kirkland added the palace suites would come right onto the Elbow Beach dunes, which he said Coral Beach Club made a special effort to avoid.

He also said beachgoers would have even more man-made structures ruining the beauty and natural environment of Elbow Beach.

Agreeing, Mr. Wardman said the development would make the "very special'' beach "less natural''. "They (palace suites) are far too close to the beach,'' he said.

The National Trust was one of the first objectors, having filed a temporary objection until it meets with the hotel's architects and management on Monday.

Environmental officer Miss Anne Steele said the Trust was reserving comment on why it is objecting until after the meeting.

A Planning Department official said last night he could not confirm the number of objections received because they had not been counted and filed yet. But he said "at least a half a dozen'' objectors came in yesterday.

The plans submitted to the Development Applications Board late last month for approval are part of the new Saudi Arabian and American owners' five-year goal to ensure the hotel is "Bermuda's best beach resort''. They recently gave the 300-room hotel a $25 million facelift.