St. Maarten Private Eye

When I look back and read this article from 2005, I wonder who exactly was the Commissioner reffering to when he said people are derailing the process of the Dawn beach hotel better known as the WESTIN today.

Sint Maarten PRIDE objected to the process as they Columbia Sussex-Babit Bay developers (now WESTIN) had no permits when they started excavation and clearing of trees, mangroves and land, they did not comply with their Planning Permits, their Planning Permits changed drastically from the first one to the second one. They removed a natural pond, which the Commissioner thought would be a great idea to replace with an artificial holding stink hole up the hill which runs down a culvert and pollutes the beach sand.

So now we have the WESTIN covering up a good 95% of density on a previous beautiful piece of land, while their planning permit said there would be a 40% density. The Dawn beach residents are complaining about a sewage plant making a hum noise 24/7, sometimes a foul smell hits them as well. Other residents complain about generators making noise. The WESTIN has also provided some residents with a gorgeous view of their container litter area complete with other eyesores.

From what I understand there are court cases in process between residents and the hotel. So I ask, who's agenda was it again? I do not live in Dawn Beach. Neither does any Sint Maarten PRIDE board member, neither do we own a house in Dawn Beach that we rent out. Our interest is and was the environment and urging developers to comply with their permits and making sure developers receive permits before they start developing and touching the land.

Government also has to remove their politics from within the Public Works department and interfering with changing permits to suit THEIR OWN personal agenda's. Today, the WESTIN hotel, built by Columbia Sussex stands as a testament as to how politicians stand to gain personally from investors to the detriment of the environment and the quality of life for the surrounding residents.

This development at Dawn Beach is gaining in popularity with students who are conducting their thesis on over-development and the imbalance of destroying the environment in favour of tourism. Keep in mind WESTIN (Columbia Sussex) received a ten year tax holiday from our government, read above.... R.Marlin said that this development would be in the interest of the entire St.Maarten.

Wanna bet that something will change just before the 10 years are up?

Boy oh Boy, politicians that say that permits are "frivolous details" and that they can barge into any office and get permits for any developer within 2 days (as R.Marlin said this week when asked about Air Fin by reporters) should make us worry, that we will be dealing with banana republic style dictators in new country St.Maarten.