St. Maarten Private Eye

SXM Pride objects to Dawn Beach planning permits - 24th June 2005

Members of Island Council
Island Territory of St. Maarten
Government Administration Building
Clem LaBega Square
Philipsburg
June 22, 2005

Dear Members of the Island Council,

Objection to Planning Permit for Babit Bay Beach Development Corporation N.V

St. Maarten Pride Foundation hereby objects to the draft planning permit PP#05023 for Babit Bay Beach Development Corporation N.V. to develop of the land at Dawn Beach Estate, Upper Princess Quarter.

This objection is based on the foundation’s opinion that the planning permit has not been planned carefully with the environment in mind and taking all environmental matters of the area into consideration. The objection is also on the grounds that the developer has carried out work on the property without waiting for the planning permit to be finalized.

The work carried out was the draining and filling of a pond which served as a natural retention area for rainwater coming from the hills and surrounding areas. On June 1 -3, 2005, the developers drained the retention pond and its silt and sludge into the Atlantic Ocean polluting the water and coastline and making Dawn Beach and unusable for swimmers. This incident has prompted the Public Prosecutor and the Police to investigate this affair and the case is currently ongoing.

The developers have not made a proper draining plan or a proper replacement for the pond before they proceeded with the draining, filling and eventual removal of the pond. The developers only attempt was to dig a hole closer to the Princess Heights building. It must also be noted that the hole dug is higher up the hill and not anywhere near the original pond which was located in the valley and served its purpose for the rainwater runoff.

On the evening of June 9, 2005 and until June 12 2005, St. Maarten experienced a bout of heavy rainfall. Due to the developers’ way of clearing the land, ripping out all mangroves, draining and filling of pond, the heavy rains swept and eroded the top soil and other runoff water into the Atlantic Ocean. This resulted in land erosion and again the ocean was polluted, this time with top oil and other water runoff and sewage coming from the hillside.
This incident proved that the natural retention pond served an important purpose as collection basin for rainwater coming from the hills, thus the pond and its mangroves should never have been allowed to be removed from its original location.

Moreover, due to the fact that the hole that was dug as replacement of the pond does not allow rainwater to settle before being drained to the Atlantic Ocean, that rainwater will keep causing silt and sludge to end up in the ocean again and again with each rain fall.

Taking the two environmental disasters into consideration, of June 1-3 and June 9-12, 2005, respectively, into consideration, as well as the expected future flow of silt and sludge into the ocean with every heavy rainfall, St. Maarten Pride Foundation is calling for this planning permit to be nullified.

It is clear to see that the pond and its mangroves served an important function in the environment and still the planning permit has an advice from the VROM department that the pond can be removed and replaced.

We do not agree with this advice from the VROM department on the environmental aspects of the planning permit and are therefore requesting that an independent environmental impact study be carried out to determine the effects of a 300 room hotel with a further 300 room condominiums will have on the environment of this area and surrounding communities.

We are placing heavy emphasis on the term “independent” and would like to remind the Island Council that Independent Consulting Engineers (ICE) has given advice to the Island Government but also was retained by Columbia Sussex, the parent company of Babit Bay Development N.V.

St. Maarten Pride Foundation suggests that the pond and its mangroves be replaced in its original location.

The foundation is also calling for the VROM department and government to put a policy in place that will prevent developers from destroying our natural ponds, instead developers can and should incorporate our existing ponds into their developments.

The foundation hopes that this letter has sufficiently informed the Island Council of these environmental incidents that have taken place and of our lack of confidence in the pending planning permit PP#05023.

We are hoping that the Island Council will sees the importance of our objection and uses its instruments of government to nullify the planning permit and conduct an independent environmental impact study before this project continues.

In closing, we would like to express our willingness to further explain our objections to the planning permit in person at your request, be it in your council’s meeting hall and/or at the site in question.

Yours sincerely,

…………………………
Jadira Veen
President
St. Maarten Pride Foundation

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