Governor de Graaf School - St. Eustatius · PDF filethe plot near the present Seventh Day...

Detailed Development Plan

Governor de Graaf School

identification plan status project number: date: status:

700102.170850.00 24th of May 2012 draft project manager: principal: drs. D.W. Takkebos Public Entity St. Eustatius

700102.170850.00 Adviesbureau RBOI – Buro Vijn Rotterdam / Middelburg / Oenkerk

Contents

Explanation

Chapter 1. Introduction 4 1.1 Motivation 4 1.2 Why this detailed development plan? 4 1.3 Plan area 4 1.4 Structure 5 1.5 Procedure 5 1.6 Digital and hard copy 6

Chapter 2. Existing situation and building plan 7 2.1 Existing situation 7 2.2 The building plan 9

Chapter 3. Explanation for the regulations 10 3.1 Introductory regulations 10 3.2 Zoning regulations 10 3.3 Concluding Regulation 10

Chapter 4. Environmental aspects 11 4.1 Quality of life and living 11 4.2 Traffic 12 4.3 Ecological values 12 4.4 Landscape 12 4.5 Archaeology and cultural heritage 12 4.6 Erosion and water 14

Regulations Introductory regulations 15 Article 13a Public Interest Use - 1 15 Concluding regulation 16

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Adviesbureau RBOI – Buro Vijn 700102.170850.00 Rotterdam / Middelburg / Oenkerk


Explanation

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Motivation Social facilities – and educational facilities – are important for the quality of life, the social cohesion and the development of St. Eustatius and its inhabitants. The Governor de Graaf School is at present located at the corner of Sandy Road – Cottage weg, next to the Gwendolyn van Putten School. In the future, the present building of the Governor de Graaf School will be used by the Gwendolyn van Putten School, to house the latter school’s expansion. This situation necessitates relocation and new building of the Governor de Graaf School. Prior to the definitive choice of site, various sites have been assessed. In the end, the plot near the present Seventh Day Adventist Primary School (SDA School) on Lynch Plantation has been selected. These grounds have been zoned for ‘Residential Area – to be detailed’ in the ROP (Ruimtelijk Ontwikkelingsplan) for St. Eustatius. These grounds are zoned for housing, apartment buildings, retail, offices, small-scale agricultural activities (horticulture, arable farming and stock farming), home-based professions and small-scale businesses. In the zoning to be detailed, building of shops and buildings for social, medical, cultural and educational facilities and overnight recreation is allowed. Therefore, building a school is also allowed. 1.2 Why this detailed development plan? The intended area has been zoned for ‘Residential Area – to be detailed’, because an allotment plan has not (yet) been adopted for the plan area and its surroundings. Actual completion of the area is executed through one or more detailed development plans. Before a building permit may be issued based on the zoning ‘Residential Area – to be detailed’, the Executive Council has to detail this zoning and adopt a detailed development plan. The detailed development regulations, as described in article 31.2 in the ROP, have to be taken into account. This detailed development plan contains the detailing of the detailed development regulations and a proper spatial substantiating for the initiative. Next to this, the detailed development plan serves as an assessment framework for issuing building permits. 1.3 Plan area The plan area of this detailed development plan covers the area required to enable the building initiative for the Governor de Graaf School. The south boundary of this plan area is the road from Concordia to English Quarter. The area is surrounded by open landscape. Slightly further east is a house, the SDA School and Berkels Plantation.

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Figure 1.1 Location planning area 1.4 Structure This detailed development plan contains an explanation, regulations and a zoning map. The zoning applying to the area in the ROP will be detailed to ‘Public Interest Use - 1’. This zoning best fits the school’s function within the system of the ROP, which the zoning ‘Residential Area – to be detailed’ allows. The other schools on the island have also been zoned as such. Next to the detailed zoning and the applicable regulations, the general ROP regulations remain applicable in the plan area. These mainly concern the definitions, the measuring methods, the general provisions and the transitional provisions. 1.5 Procedure The procedure described in article 31.2.4 of the ROP must be followed in order to adopt a detailed development plan. Before the Executive Council adopts a detailed development plan (and subsequently may issue a building permit), the draft plan has to be made available for public consultation for a period of fifteen days. During this period any person concerned may submit objections. The period for public consultation must be announced beforehand in the regular Dutch and English daily papers and newspapers, distributed on the island. At the moment of completion of the draft detailed development plan, the Executive Council may authorize exemption from the restriction to issue a building permit, based on article 31.4 and issue a building permit based on this exemption. The exemption must be accompanied by a proper spatial substantiating that proves that the building plan concerned fits in the scope of the draft development plan. The draft detailed development plan, if sufficiently substantiated by the detailed development regulations and the relevant environmental criteria, may serve as such.


This zoning amendment plan has been written in Dutch and translated into English. In case of deviations between the Dutch and the English version, the Dutch version prevails. 1.6 Digital and hard copy This detailed development plan has been composed digitally and is available for digital consultation. For this, the digital detailed development plan is available via an Internet address (URL). The detailed development plan will also be available in hard copy (on paper). The hard copy version will be adopted by the Executive Council. This adopted plan is the plan in force (legally binding).

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Chapter 2. Existing situation and building plan

2.1 Existing situation The environment The plan area is situated on the north-east side of the island, at approximately 700 m from the Atlantic Ocean. The south boundary of the plan area is the road from Concordia to English Quarter. A house lies on this road and although this house is not visible on the below air view, it is visible on figure 2.2. Also to the east of the plan area is a residential plot with a circular house of two floors and a pitched roof. The surrounding area north and west of the plan area is open landscape with rough vegetation.

Figure 2.1 Impression of existing situation

Figure 2.2 bird’s eye view of existing situation


The plan area This part of the island will house future expansion of Oranjestad. A large part of the adjacent grounds has already been parceled out and zoned ‘Residential Area’. The plan area is located in the direct vicinity of the SDA School, which will result in a certain clustering of educational facilities. The plan area itself does not contain development and consists of rough vegetation. The plan area has been zoned ‘Residential Area – to be detailed’ (see figure 2.3), which also allows for, apart from housing and other functions, social and educational facilities. Within the zone to be detailed, detailed development regulations apply, to which the detailed development plan must comply. The following criteria apply: a. when composing the detailed plan, good infiltration, storage and drainage of rain water

must be taken into account; b. the area's main access must connect to the existing infrastructure; c. sufficient parking space must be developed; d. the execution must be financially and economically feasible. Next to these criteria, a number of building criteria applies, such as a limitation to the building height, positioning the buildings on the plot and the surface of the buildings.

Figure 2.3 Excision from ROP map

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2.2 The building plan The building plan for the Governor de Graaf School provides for four class rooms of 44 m2 each, a rest room, a locker space, two offices, a meeting room and storage space. Next to that, the building plan provides for a fenced playground and green area. The total plan surface covers 650 m2, of which 365 m2 will be built. The length of the plan is approximately 36 m; de width is approximately 10 m. The building will consist of one floor with a building height of approximately 4.6 m. The images below provide an impression of the building plan. The plot design will include sufficient green areas to the road, parking facilities behind the green areas and then the school building. To the back of the school, a playground with green areas will be built.

Figure 2.4 Impression of building plan

Figure 2.5 Impression of the plan area design


Chapter 3. Explanation for the regulations

At the time of becoming in force, this detailed development plan will constitute a part of the ROP (Ruimtelijk Ontwikkelingsplan or Spatial Development Plan). The regulations of the ROP will also apply to this detailed development plan, next to the regulations included in this detailed development plan. 3.1 Introductory regulations

Article 1 includes the articles of the ROP that remain applicable to the plan area of this detailed development plan. 3.2 Zoning regulations The zoning ‘Residential – to be detailed’ has been detailed in the zoning ‘Public Interest Use – 1’. The detailed development regulations in article 31.2 of the ROP have served as the basis for the regulations. Where applicable, the regulations are consistent with those for the ‘Public Interest Use’ zone of the ROP. The designation ‘1’ has been opted to signify the difference to the existing ‘Public Interest Use’ zone of the ROP. The ‘Public Interest Use - 1’ zone enables the following: Functions for the public interest are allowed, such as educational facilities like the

Governor de Graaf School. The building dimensions are included on the detailed development plan map, which

prescribes a maximum building height of 5 m. This corresponds to the maximum building height for detached buildings as mentioned in ROP article 31.2.1 d.

The building dimensions for the school include a maximum plot surface of 25%. This means that 25% of the zoning area may be built up. The remaining area may however be used for the other functions allowed. The percentage corresponds to the building surface allowed in ROP article 31.2.1 f. The building surface allowed is higher than required for the building plan. Because the zoning ‘Public Interest Use – 1’ requires the reservation of surface for parking, playing facilities, green areas and facilities for discharging rain water, the actual surface for the school will be less than 25% of the plan area.

Buildings may not be built less than 3 m from the side or back plot boundaries and at least 5 m from the front plot boundary. This corresponds to ROP article 31.2.1 point b 3. When designing the playground, a minimum distance of 30 m to the surrounding houses must be observed because of noise made by children at play.

The zoning ‘Public Interest Use’ in the ROP includes exemption regulations for larger building hights or building closer to the plot boundaries. Because (at present) the plan area lies in open landscape, ‘landscape’ has been added to the conditions.

In accordance with the zoning ‘Public Interest Use’ in the ROP, an amendment authority has been included to amend zoning for residential development.

3.3 Concluding Regulation The title of this plan is ‘Detailed Development Plan Governor de Graafschool’. This title may be cited for referencing in documents.

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Chapter 4. Environmental aspects

This chapter expands on the sectorial assessment of the building plan. 4.1 Quality of life and living Public Interest In this plan, the zoning ‘Residential – to be detailed’ is being detailed to the zoning ‘Public Interest Use – 1’, thereby enabling new building of the school for primary education. These facilities are important for the quality of life, the social cohesion and the development of St. Eustatius and its inhabitants. Building the school also corresponds with the policy as laid down by the island in its Strategic Development Plan (SDP). In the SDP, the island strives for improved prosperity for its people and a better quality of life and living. Proper education in adequate buildings is one of the conditions to achieve better prosperity. Education develops skills and provides knowledge. This results in better employability, contributes to the cultural identity, self-awareness and the quality of life in general. Execution of the plan will contribute to the quality of life, the social cohesion and the development of St. Eustatius and its inhabitants. Shadow effect and noise pollution In general, an educational function may fit well within a residential area. For this reason, the zoning ‘Residential – to be detailed’ allows an educational function within this zoning. Nevertheless, when detailing the plan, the spatial and functional impact on the environment must be considered. In theory, these may consist of possible shadow effect resulting from the building height of buildings or possible noise from children at play. The building plan for the school includes a building height of approximately 4.6 m; therefore the school will not cause a shadow effect on the present nearby residential functions. The nearest house is to the south of the plan area. Considering the location of the plan area with respect to the house, the building plan will have no shadow effect on this residence. There will also be no shadow effect on the house east of the plan area. This house is at approximately 100 m distance from the plan area. Considering the aspect of noise pollution, the development has been assessed according to the standards in the VNG-brochure 'Bedrijven en milieuzonering'1 as applied in the Netherlands. Regarding the aspect of noise, the largest zone with a minimum distance of 30 m to the nearest sensitive functions (such as residential area) has to be considered when building a school. The regulations include a minimum distance of at least 30 m from the playground to the surrounding residential functions. The zoning offers sufficient space for this. In this case, the noise pollution situation is acceptable. The aspects of shadow effect and noise pollution therefore do not bar execution of the plan.

1 A publication by the federation of Dutch municipalities (Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeenten) concerning the environmental zones to be considered for businesses, i.e. the distance to be observed so as not to impact sensitive functions in their vicinity.


4.2 Traffic The plan area is accessible by a paved road of approximately 4.5 m wide which connects Concordia to English Quarter. The traffic generated by the building plan has been calculated according to CROWPublication 272, 20081. Departing from its location in the rural area (19.3 traffic movements per natural week day per 100 m2) and a school surface of 365 m2, the traffic generated will result in approximately 70 vehicle movements per natural week day. Considering the low traffic on the road in the current situation and the limited increase in traffic generated by the school, the accessibility will not decrease. The development provides for its own parking facilities on its grounds. The zoning ‘Public Interest Use – 1’ offers sufficient space for parking facilities. The aspect of traffic therefore does not bar execution of the plan. 4.3 Ecological values The plan area is situated at a large distance of the two internationally recognized Important Bird Areas (IBAs): Boven and The Quill and will have no influence on these areas. Neither does the site have a specific relevance for the IBA trigger species or for other special endemic species. The plan area does not host protected or endangered vegetation. The aspect of ecology therefore does not bar execution of the plan. 4.4 Landscape The building plan – with a building height of approximately 4.6 m and a surface of 36 m by 10 m - constitutes a rather modest interference in the existing landscape. Therefore there will be no significant damage to the landscape. It is recommended to establish a planting plan to landscape the development. The aspect of landscape therefore does not bar execution of the plan. 4.5 Archaeology and cultural heritage The Malta Convention principle is to conserve and protect archaeological values. As a result of this treaty, cultural heritage conservation is included in spatial planning as are other interests concerned with planning preparation. It is well-known that St. Eustatius’ cultural heritage is one of the richest in the Caribbean, for all periods. The areas that are expected to contain archaeological values (plantations, burial sites etc.) also have been zoned for archaeology, next to their other zoning in the ROP, to protect archaeological values in development plans. The plan area does not have an archaeological zoning.

1 CROW: the Dutch national center for infrastructure, traffic, transport and public space

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Figure 4.1 Historical map dated 1781, with plan area indicated The image in figure 4.1 is confirmed by the historical map from 1781. The plan area – at the time probably owned by Governor de Graaf – lies to the north of the plantations situated to the south of the road from Concordia to English Quarter. At the site of the plantations, archaeological and cultural heritage values may be expected. Therefore, this area has been zoned ‘Value – Archaeology’ in the ROP. The plan area is not covered by this former plantation complex (buildings), and therefore its archaeological and cultural heritage values are considerably lower. This is confirmed by the SECAR map, which indicates the different prehistoric, military and plantation sites on St. Eustatius, see figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Historical sites on St. Eustatius (source: SECAR)


The still distinguishable allotment structures of the former plantations are characteristic for this part of St. Eustatius. These are still visible in the landscape through the (sand) road directions and/or the present rock wall demarcations between the plantations. Conservation of these characteristic structures is a requirement. However, the boundaries of the plan area do not cross the characteristic allotment structures.

Figure 4.4 Distinguishable allotment structures in the landscape (rock wall demarcation to the left) The aspects of archaeology and cultural heritage do not bar execution of the plan. 4.6 Erosion and water In the current situation, wind and water erosion is contained by the presence of vegetation. Part of the vegetation will be stripped for the new developments, which will necessitate measures to prevent erosion. To prevent erosion: 1. The natural vegetation will be replanted with fully grown – and preferably endemic –

plant species; 2. The soil will be tested for water permeability, also for the new water system (see 3); 3. Paved grounds must have counterforts or drainage pipes to drain the water to lower

storage or infiltration pits (possibly with gravel to drain the water). The aspects of erosion and water do not bar execution of the plan.

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Regulations Introductory regulations

The stipulations in: Article 1 Definitions; Article 2 Measurements; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Annexes to the regulations; of the Ruimtelijk Ontwikkelingsplan (Spatial Development Plan) as adopted by the Eilandsraad (Island Council) on April 29, 2011 remain fully in force for this detailed development plan. Article 13a Public Interest Use - 1

13.1 Zoning definitions a. The zoning area 'Public Interest Use - 1' is to be used for buildings for social, medical,

cultural, and educational utilities; b. The grounds zoned for 'Public Interest Use - 1' are also zoned for playing facilities, if a

minimum distance of 30 m to the surrounding houses is observed. c. Apart from the abovementioned buildings, the associated utilities are also allowed. These

are paths, green areas, playing facilities, water courses, water bodies, water storage, pavement, gardens, parking facilities, terrains and public utilities.

13.2 Building regulations Building in the zoning area 'Public Interest Use - 1' is restricted to certain regulations. These are: 13.2.1 Buildings a. A building shall have:

1. A maximum building height as registered in the indication ‘maximum building height (m)’;

2. A maximum of two floors (either with or without a pitched roof); 3. To be built at least 3 m from the side and back plot boundaries; 4. To be built at least 5 m from the front plot boundary.

b. The total building surface may not exceed the percentage registered in the indication 'maximum building percentage' of the zoning area.

13.2.2 Other structures a. A fence to demarcate plots and terrains shall have:

1. A building height of a maximum of 2 m if at the back of a building; 2. A building height of a maximum of 2 m if next to a building and not be closer to a

road than the frontage of the building facing the road or the extension of this frontage;

3. A building height of a maximum of 1 m if between a road and the frontage of a building or the extension of a building;


b. Other structures than fences shall have a building height of a maximum of 5 m. 13.3 Exemption from building regulations 13.3.1 Exceptions In certain cases a building is allowed: a. To be built higher than the indicated building height; b. To be built closer to the plot boundary or to a road than mentioned in the indicated

distances. 13.3.2 Conditions Exemption to enable the above mentioned exceptions has to be authorized by the Executive Council. The Executive Council is only able to authorize exemption, if no disproportional damage is done to: a. The street-, town- and landscape; b. The environmental situation; c. Traffic safety; d. The possibilities for use of or the views from the adjacent grounds. The exemption for higher building may not result in a building height of more than 3 m over the maximum allowed building height. 13.4 Amendment 13.4.1 Residence The Executive Council is allowed to amend the zoning 'Public Interest Use - 1' in either of the two zones 'Residential Area – 1' or 'Residential Area – 2'. An amendment for this purpose may be authorized only if the activities concerned have terminated, adjacent businesses are not hindered in their activities by the amendment and sufficient parking facilities are created on site. After amendment, the building and utilization regulations of the zoning concerned apply. The building height in the amended zone must join that of adjacent buildings. 13.4.2 Procedure The Executive Council only adopts an amendment of the spatial development plan after a mandatory period of fifteen days during which a draft for the amendment decision has been made available for public inspection with the opportunity to submit written objections and appeals. The dates when the draft of the amendment decision is made available for public inspection are announced well in advance in daily newspapers or other regular periodicals published in Dutch and in English distributed on the island.

13.5 Utilization regulation Use (whether or not by third parties) of buildings, other structures and terrains conflicting with the zoning and the regulations is prohibited. The Executive Council shall authorize exemption of this prohibition if so requested, only if there are no pressing reasons to restrict the most efficient use. Concluding regulation These regulations shall be known and may be cited as 'Regulations of the Detailed Development plan Governor de Graaf School'.

Governor de Graaf School - St. Eustatius · PDF filethe plot near the present Seventh Day...

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