St. Maarten Private Eye

Chamba, your letter was scanned and posted in the Dawn Beach Thread. Look down the right hand side of the page, you will find it there. The best place to put comments on Dawn beach is the most recent Blog post. Look down the front page, the two most recent on Dawn Beach were the Destruction of Dawn Beach - SXM Pride awareness video and a post with audio from the Kadaster called Westin do not own Dawn Beach. Posting this far back means your comment will be lost in the site, which now has over 10,000 clips, articles, photos and comments.

Hope this helps. Forget about using the search feature. It does not work.

Flipper

Do you mean up the valley? If you do then I believe it is a residential development. It is my understanding that Peyton Cromwell of Remax owns or has interests covering much of the valley. Peyton of course is the man who facilitated and arranged the sale of Dawn Beach to Sucksit.

If there is a an excavation behind Princess Heights not in the valley then it's new to me. It could be a new house for Roy I guess. Someone will check it out I'm sure. Do you have a photo?

Dr. Voodoo

I was under the impression that the Island Gov't "owns" the beaches on SXM, am I wrong ? Does the Westin hold the deed to the beach ?

Does this mean definitively that no one can use the old Dawn Beach because the Westin is being built in front of it ? Or will they have a walk trail for residents to use to get to the beach ?:

Thank you in advance .

And I don't think people here would ever let it be otherwise.

Dawn Beach is still open for use but you have to park at Ms B's or Busby's and walk/climb over the rocks to get to it. I do not believe Columbia Sucksit has made any provision for people to park on their property to use the beach.

As for the future, supposedly public parking has been planned, not sure how many spaces or where, I heard it was not many and up the valley a bit. During Scavengers time there could be up to 30 of 40 cars there on a Sunday, I doubt there will be anything like that many spaces.

Also, there is no longer a Scavengers and you know your beers are likely to be $4 minimum at the hotel bar. And what about bringing your own chairs, umbrella's, cooler boxes. Will we be restricted on where we can lay our towels by the hotel beach business? All important and valid questions, but Roy says it's going to bring lots of jobs and thats what matters most, to him anyway.

Have you ever been to Gibbs Bay? Tell the guard at Red Pond Estate that you want to drive down to the beach, he has to let you through. It has a beautiful secluded beach and the fresh water pond is teaming with wildlife and birds, it's very peaceful. I know the rule about how it would be destroyed if more people knew about it but I think in this case it's different. The more people that know the better, besides, it's going to be destroyed anyway.

Go enjoy it while you can.

Dr. Voodoo

Dr. Voo-doo I would think that because the homeowners of the DawnBeach area , including Tamarind Hills, and OysterPond would have some sort of automatic "rights" that would be grandfathered in . Afterall they weret here before him . Sucksit cannot block a right of way that was given to the people of the area . I believe that he HAS to make some sort of a walkway that ISN'T an inconvenience to the owners in the area and it has to be handicapped compliant .

It sounds like people have layed down and died over this subject , where is the outrage over him trying to take their beach ?

I will not stand for this .

The beaches here are open and public to all, regardless of where you live in the world.

I agree totally that Sucksit should provide parking space and easy access to locals and non hotel guests. But as to wether they have to do so is up to the government to insist upon in the planning permit process. I heard pretty much the same as Voodoo, that there would be some spaces not too far from the beach and maybe more further up the valley.

Consider too that this is a 310 room hotel with 100 condos attached. How do you go about reserving parking spaces for locals? It's going to become one of those pot luck things I suspect, and if the hotel wanted to limit the spaces then they just fill them with rental cars.

Does anyone know whats in the plans?

LH

Perhaps the Westin should be made to purchase a piece of land ( 1/2 acre ) up the road from Princess Heights and to clear it for use as a parking lot for locals . Then Sucksit should be made to have a specific walled walkway near the old parking lot entrance ( before construction ) of DawnBeach hotel so that it isn't a tremendous hardship to walk to the beach .

But so far I have seen very little evidence that Sucksit or Roy Marlin gives a thought or care for the hardship of local residents who might want to use the beach.

I think an important thing to keep in mind is the fact that very few "born here" St. Maartener's actually use the beaches, except Kim Sha, Great Bay and Le Galion on the French side and then really only on public holidays. The "locals" that do use the beaches like Dawn Beach are generally not locals with votes, Roy Marlin knows this.

Yes there will be parking for locals, but I don't know where it will be or how many spaces there will be. There will also be access to the beach but I have no idea of the hardship using this access will entail. I see that the hotel is 300 plus rooms and condos. This alone means that they may need parking for over 250 plus cars, staff and rentals. I understand the valley is to be developed into a housing estate, with condos too I'm sure, so there will be nice roads and limited parking options.

No, I don't think they care about locals access. As you can see in this article, Roy say's

"The government did not have to give any guarentees to the developers"

and that the government

"challenged the developer to give jobs to locals"

I read this to say that the island sought no guarentees from the developer either.

Did you hear about the editorials in the local papers being the same? Flipper mentions it here. It could be a simple printing error because I believe both are printed at the same place (I'm not 100% positive on that.) Then again, someone suggested to me that it could even have been written by Westin themselves, which after reading it again I find plausable. Or perhaps by Theo. It will be interesting what the reply from the papers will be, if they give one.

Dr. Voodoo

I have not recieved a reply from either of the newspapers about the Editorial. Perhaps they just don't care to reply to "Flipper". If anyone would like to enquire why they both printed the same editorial about Westin and Dawn Beach then please be my guest. And let us know if you get an answer.

Flipper

Flipper can you email me a copy of the editorials youa re talking about.
I rather suspect that it was probably a paid advertisement...
Undercover.

I suspect too that it was written by a third party. If it was then I find it deceitful and immoral of both newpapers not to say so. I have never heard of such a thing before and if the editorials are written by third parties then our newpapers lose a little more credibility from the little they have now.
I would really like to hear their explaination and I think we as readers and public have a right to know. Hope you can find something out.

Flipper

They started yesterday, the site manager also told a NF rep who came to take pictures to leave. Marlin seems to have given them all they want. I though VROM and others recommened keeping the pond? It would seem they got bulldozered too.

DJP

It would seem so. The head of VROM said to many people that the department would oppose the filling and destruction of the pond. Why did he change his mind? Or have they? We hear that there is no written advice included in the permit documents.

It appears the 30 days period to voice objections or concerns about the plans is just bull. Sure you can object but whats the point if it's all gone already? The same goes for the Dolphinarium issue, if the contracts are signed and St. Maarten is now held to a $3 million fine to change it's mind then why protest or object? The reason is to have it on record, because the issue is now turning into one of proper governance.

As you can see in the photos below, the pond has been cleared and filling has started. Also there is a generator and pump situated just behind the old pool bar building. This was pumping water from the pond into the sea most of last night, pond water that has just been stired up by excavating and dredging the mangroves. The effects this might have on the reef are unknown, but considering the reef is suffering like most reefs around the World it propably isn't helpful.

There are also ongoing questions about the density of the project. You can find more details in the Dawn Beach V thread about the permits and project from "Mr. Envi Roy ment" himself. Not mentioned there but in another article is that government has permitted upto 50% density whereas the rule is usually 40%. On a property and development of this size, thats a big jump.

Furthur up the valley the clearing progresses, see here and here. It is rumored this is the site of the new "Peyton Place".
. See here also.

DJP

The company is called Babit Bay Development N.V.

ROB (department of what?) approved the plans for the retention ditch and drainage of the pond last week. Nothing else new, same old spin from Marlin.

PS to the editors, you did a great job editing my post whoever it was, with photos too!

DJP

(note from editor - I had them ready to post, you gave the material. Keep it up)

Pumping sludge into the sea.

Note the very dark water along the beach.

The pump has been running during the nights.

Remains of the pond.

Goodbye reefs, goodbye tourists.

Click here - Daily Herald 6th June.

One of the reports in the papers, not sure which one, had the site manager saying that the silt and sludge washing into the sea was full of nutrients, not doing any harm to the reef.
Why the newspaper did not question this statement is beyond me. Any scientist or professional in the environmental field will tell you about the damage silt causes to reefs. Does the reporter just not have a clue? It's really an easy job here I guess, just copy down what you are told.

Mojo

Heavy rains starting Thursday night and continuing today, Saturday, have left Dawn Beach a muddy mess. Columbia Sussex continues it's program of providing nutrients to the reef offshore.
If the Government had ANY concern about this they would have that overflow into the sea blocked and take a second look at the project. But they don't and won't, as is often the case, what is said to the media and public is quite often something different than the reality.

Take a look and weep. New photo's here.

CAST, the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, an affiliate of CHA, the Caribbean Hotel Association, recently called for urgent and immediate action to save Caribbean coral reefs. Not that anyone will take much notice here. The website of CAST hasn't even been updated since January.

The flooding at Dawn Beach after the rains over the last week was mentioned in this article on Saturday in the Daily Herald. Residents of the area dubbed the new muddy pond Lake Itolduso.

Reports reaching SXM PE tell that the site personel have grown very aggressive and intimidating, with one lady being told to "get the f**k off the property". Others have reported being photographed as they themselves looked at or photographed the property.

Another report tells that VROM or ROB have not been honest with providing plans of the development to those with objections. The plans first provided to those with objections were not the ones approved by the Ex Co. Which brings up this question again.

Why did ROB and VROM change their minds about the pond and development when they stated infront of many witnesses that they were opposed to it's destruction. A week or two later they gave their approval to government. Fishy!

Explaination please ROB AND VROM!

New photos here and here.

Also, the Commissioner for the Environment (honestly!) takes another jab at residents of Dawn Beach, swinging wildly and off target like a blind man. On the one hand he claims Gov. respects public views on the environment. and that the project will be a success in terms of the environment. And yet he has nothing to say about this. One can only conclude that this man is so full of it he needs to get himself down to A. Th. Illidge Road and unload.

Meanwhile the plans to destroy the Red Pond at Gibbs Bay seem to be moving forwards.

Police probing reports about sea pollution at Dawn Beach

PHILIPSBURG--The Authorities are investigating the alleged pollution of the sea at Dawn Beach, Environmental Law expert Prosecutor Paul Mooij confirmed Monday.

Read more at The Daily Herald.