Barbaron

SXM PE Blog Post - A Certain Sense of Impending Disaster in Bel Air- 3rd March 2008

SXM PE Blog Post - Dream Dream Dream - 8th November 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Barbaron to fill part of Belair Pond - 11th June 2007

Barbaron plans first botanical garden - 5th June 2007

Protest against Barbaron falls on deaf ears - 20th April 2007

Barbaron project to start - 19th April 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Barbaron approved? - 17th April 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Belair Pond Update - Pointe Esprit and Barbaron - 13th March 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Belair Pond - Fiddling with the permits - 6th March 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Belair Pond and 11yr old permits. - 13th February 2007

SXM PE Blog Post - Barbarons invade Belair Beach - 27th January 2007

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Submitted by Local Hero on Fri, 2008-07-18 11:27.

Barbaron. Do we accept this?
Anonymous (not verified) | Thu, 2008-10-16 02:33

The excavation stopped after 2 years of irreversible destruction to the hillside. All heavy equipment is gone for a while now. The next phase should have been the start of construction but nothing is going on. That in itself is a plus as I have always been vehemently against the size of the Barbaron project. It is simply too big. Our infrastructure can not carry the additional weight it will bring. Rumor has it that the project is abandoned all together, that Carchidi ran out of money and that he couldn't find any investors to finance the construction phase. I predicted something like that would happen. The project is now for sale. Supposedly. Will it be sold? Nobody knows. It is not exactly the best of times to sell anything right now. Money is kind of tight these days.

Now my question is, what do we do in situations like this? Do we as a society accept that a developer destroys our landscape and then moves on as if nothing happened or do we retaliate? I find we should do the latter. Carchidi is to fix this or never to get any permit again on Sint Maarten. Not even a permit to reside here.

And government could learn a lesson too. Think about a policy that all future developments must put up a million dollar environment bond. The bond is to be returned if the project is completed without damage to the environment.
What happened here is not acceptable and we can't afford to shrug our shoulders and let it pass by.

uglification
Angelina | Thu, 2008-10-16 13:48

I think it's highly unlikely that the developer will continue this project, which means the island will once again be stuck with an incredibly ugly hillside scar. Also, with that uncanny time bomb in America ticking away... you know, CDS... tourism with destination St-Maarten will decrease speedily. So, based on the above what's left? Concrete, concrete and a lot more concrete. Yay! The island is officially uglified.
LaBega may say whatever she wants to say, but outstanding service won't do the trick if there's simply no money left in the average American's wallet. (which will happen! just you wait and see)

And with Barbaron, it's just too late. A good idea would be to build good housing facilities up there, so that shacks can be removed and people may live under decent circumstances. Who's with me?

Angelina

Rudy Neuss was warned
Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 2008-10-17 03:10

Rudy Nuess, owner of the land on the Cay Hill was warned that Carchidi would leave him holding the bag.
The hill is being nicely developed with some nice homes and Nuess could have followed that pattern.
But no, he refused to listen and now we have a situation by which he cannot fix the landscape anymore, not even to put in nice homes as the others that are being built.
The Barbaron high rise and other bullshit that Carchidi sold as his newest crap was way too much for SXM, it was just too large for that location.
Carchidi and other developers such as the Cape Bay developers (Indigo Beach) under estimate the power of the internet.
American, European and other prospective buyers can now search online to see what others think of their developments.
But, we are now stuck with this hill that is ugly and has severe soil runoff issues every time there is rain and storms.
So what do we do? the environmental bond is a good idea, but unlikely to be passed by this government for sure.
Most of these large developers do much harm to the environment on purpose as they need more land to maximize their profits and greed.

worrisome
Angelina | Fri, 2008-10-17 05:50

What about that house, just above the enormous gap...I might be wrong here, but with a heavy shower, stormy weather and heavy winds, won't it be exposed to real danger? I mean the soil is disappearing slowly with the water that's flowing to the lowest point and so it's in my view just a matter of time before we find some parts of the house a couple of metres below. I know it's not a very nice thought, but I don't see how there could be no dangerous situation now or within a few years' time.

Profits, blind profits, how long still?

Angelina

House on hill
Anonymous (not verified) | Fri, 2008-10-17 10:27

Angelina , I hope that you are wrong since we are the owners of the new house above that mess. We have put our life savings into that house , and trusted the government to do their duty. Sure. I hope that they don't think that it can be left the way that it is right now. The deveoper should have had to build some sort of retaining wall at least a year ago when they cut into the mountain sooooooo badly.We only live there part time with a booarder otherwise, so we obviously have no power of any kind. We have learned only after the whole fiasco of building there that virtually nobody does. Wish us luck , we'll have to start checking on the erosion especially after Omar.
Nancy

great
Angelina | Sat, 2008-10-18 11:22

Nancy, is that what they said they would do, build a retaining wall to protect your house from possible damage? If so, maybe it's in the contract? I sincerely hope it is.
Seriously, I can't believe this government! They should have stepped in from the start and demanded such things as retaining walls. It's outrageous. This island desperately needs supervision, just like the todlers playing in kindergarten.

Angelina

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