St. Maarten Private Eye

This new arrangement is not correct for a few reasons:

- first of all it is going to cost the persons objecting against the issuance of a planning permit an arm and a leg, because legal representation in court does not come for free;

- secondly an opinion from a so-called "Committee of Experts" will still be necessary, lest a judge can not rule on the merits of any objection at all;

- thirdly, the legal process is long and tedious, whereby parties get plenty of opportunities to claim, counter-claim, etcetera; the process of dealing with matters could well extend to years and no developer is going to wait for the outcome of that;

- fourthly, it is about time that this EROP is replaced by proper zoning of areas remaining that could still be zoned; but that zoning is going to be costly, because if the Island Territory decreases the value of properties because of its zoning, this same regulation contains wording, that the land-owners will have to be indemnified (paid) for their losees, and as we all know the island does not have money for that;

- finally, it is my opinion, that this whole new procedure is an invention from the commissioner because he is tired of the headaches he is getting from all these protests, and having to deal with them, at the same time appeasing the people in whose pockets he is "supposed" to be.

And obviously a planning-permit for Mullet-Bay is just around the corner, and when it comes to legal process we know who will have the deepest pockets, and we would still be held in limbo for years, while the legal process takes place........ Ansari does not mind to wait!!

Just my five cents!!!

Observer1602