Controversial plans to redevelop the Fairmont Southampton resort should be debated in the House of Assembly and Senate before going to a vote, the Opposition has claimed.

The hotel’s developer, Westend Properties, submitted a special development order request to the Government last week, seeking permission to build 147 residential and 114 tourism units in buildings of up to six storeys on the property.

Previously, SDOs had to be debated in Parliament in order to get approved.

But in 2021, the Government made amendments to the law allowing the Minister of Home Affairs to approve or reject applications before they went to Parliament.

At the time, Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs insisted that the change in law was necessary and “not in the context of any anticipated development”

The plans have prompted outrage from environmental groups who have described the proposal as “unbelievable and unforgivable”. An online petition objecting to the development has collected more than 3,000 signatures.

In a statement, Cole Simons, the leader of the One Bermuda Alliance, said last night that a full parliamentary debate was necessary “so that democracy is reaffirmed“.

Mr Simons said: “This government cannot continue to ignore the obvious anxiety that this project has had on the community over the years. They must cease demonstrating insensitivities to the concerns of the people of Bermuda.

“The voices of the community must be heard and respected. There must be some consensus between the people of Bermuda, the developers, the investors, environmental groups and the Government of Bermuda.

“It must not be presented under the negative resolution, as the completed SDO will be presented as a completed statutory instrument and Parliament can within 21 days or after three sittings, whichever is later, send a message to the Governor requesting that the SDO statutory instrument be annulled or any part thereof.

“There will be no opportunity to amend the SDO based on the wishes of the people of Bermuda.”

After the wave of objections, Westend Properties said images that better show how the completed resort could look will be released next week.

The developer insisted that depictions of buildings contained in the SDO submission were “not accurately drawn” and instead were “placeholders to show location”.

In a statement, the company said: “Architectural drawings that better represent our vision for the property will be released next week.

“The units will be thoughtfully designed and integrated into the landscape for a cohesive look and feel, similar to the units that were built at Tucker’s Point.

“The full renovation of the hotel and beach club is the No 1 priority and will be completed first.

“Construction will only begin once a significant number of units are pre-sold.

“These units are integral to the successful transformation of the property into a world-class destination resort and will provide an additional 195 guest rooms to the hotel’s existing 593 rooms, which is approximately a 30 per cent increase in room capacity.”

It added: “Stay tuned for further details coming next week about the planned hotel renovation and the proposed residential and tourism units.”

The Gazette has consistently reported — in articles accompanied by images used in the official SDO request — that a letter included in the documents to the planning department said detailed design of the units “has not been attempted at this time, and thus the proposal is restricted to high-level conceptual design”; and that the developer said the drawings “in no way represent how we envisage incorporating the proposed tourism and residential units”; or both.

This morning, E. Michael Jones protested the plans in a one-man demonstration on East Broadway.

After the protest, Mr Jones said he was encouraged by the positive feedback he received from commuters.

He said: “The reaction was very vocal, with lots of horns tooting and people giving the thumbs-up.

“This is not political and I do understand the concept of building condominiums to mitigate the cost of renovating the hotel.

“But I don’t think building another Miami Beach on top of that hill is the way to go forward.

“I’m just hoping that we can come to the table and reach a compromise so that we don’t end up with this monstrous footprint taking up 25 per cent of the golf course.”

Mr Jones earlier wrote on his Facebook page: “I remember when one was unable to build a cottage on the skyline; with this concept, there will be no skyline.

“This will even block out the sunlight.”

He added: “Bermuda lost huge areas of land during the development of the US and Canadian bases, dare I say a worthy cause.

“We had no say back then, now we do and I say fight this battle as if it was World War Three.

“I predict this will be Bermuda’s final nail in our coffin and we are using the hammer.”

Objections can be made to the Department of Planning with a deadline of May 3.

The application will be then presented to the Development Applications Board for review before being passed on to the Minister of Home Affairs for consideration.