St. Maarten Private Eye

How long I have lived here? Let us keep it at "long enough to know". It kind of seems strange to me, that you would not be able to take a picture from the Dawn Beach Estates area of the buildings in question, then compare it with other pictures from before, and do measurements on the pictures themselves. At least it would help.

As for you fear, that seems kind of overdone to me, since only a few days ago Dwight Barran et al walk onto the beach, take pictures, take measurements and even film (video) the whole thing. Obviously these people were not scared.

Still want to get back to that 45/50 meter issue, because if that is true that building plan should have never been approved with the lay-out that it has, because a lot of construction is well within that range, and has been from the beginning, whether the beach eroded or not. And if you should take Roy Marlin's words or utterings as truth is a totally different question altogether. It somehow baffles me tho, that someone would impose a building set-back from an ever shifting high-water mark. It just does not make sense. Or it must have been cause by the fact that the beach was measured into that particular Certificate of Admeasurement, as well as a part of the sea. But that is a different matter which I would not even want to touch right now.

Hopefully soon we shall see what the building permit says (altho I question that it would be in there). I would have rather been looking for the planning permit, which these people should have received prior to making building-plans. In a development at Guana Bay the government imposed a 15/20 meter no building zone taken from where the vegetation ended landinwards (which could clearly be marked on the existing Certificates of Admeasurement). I guess something similar is the case over here and it would be easy to superimpose such on a kadastral map and then project the present development thereon. If necessary use Google Earth, which has a good outline of the project.

Should government have inspected what is going on and still goes on. Of course they should, but it may have come to your attention that they are only looking where they want and not where they don't want. Any idea how come? I have one, but will keep it to myself.

At any rate, this whole development, just like Coral Shore "villa's" is hideous and ugly and looks like an american implant into a beatiful Caribbean island. A waste and a shame, but I guess some will say, that is the price of progress that we locals are paying through our noses, not only there in Dawn Beach, but elsewhere on the island also.

And as "for proof is in the pudding" we shall have to see the finished product. I am just hoping these people will fix back the roads they damaged extensively during construction.

Observer1602