St. Maarten Private Eye

There is probably no law to say there has to be one, but I do recall Bobby saying this would be a modern boatyard and I think he said something about a waste pumping station.

What it looks like to me is that Bobby is filling the lagoon in front of the Cole Bay Villas, as such they lose their waterrights because there will be no water. It also seems that he may be filling in his own water rights, although this is not clear. If he is and does, will he then be able to secure more water rights for his newly filled land?

These are questions our media and relevant government departments should be asking and investigating, but we all know they don't do that sort of thing.

LH

The Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation along with the Nature foundation of St.Maarten received complaints from the residents regarding the coming boatyard in Cole bay infront of the Kool Bay villas. PRIDE foundation decided to call a meeting with the various government departments Inspection, VROM,ROB, Public Works and have them meet the residents at the boat yard site, so they can listen to the residents new concerns.

The developer Mr. Velasquez has already received his hindrance permit and other permits that he can start construction. Not one government department showed up to that meeting to listen to the concerns of the residents, the only invitee that showed up was Public Prosecutor Paul Mooij. Once a developer starts construction, it is the job of the Inspection department to keep an eye on that building site and make sure the building is going according to the planning permits, also make sure that the site is being constructed in a safe manner and that all is going according to our building laws.

The fact that not one government department of Public Works came to see what the concerns of the residents are showed that Public Works do not seem to care nor take community groups seriously.

The Kool Baai Villas residents have a valid complaint when they state that the road that Bobby built (By filling in the lagoon) which gives them parking as well, is also higher than the low lying Kool Baai villas, however this drainage issue should not be the problem of Bobby, but the government departments, their engineers should have seen this coming when they handed Bobby his building permits, hindrance permits etc. A proper drainage should be looked at now by government departments before any serious rainfall occurs.

The environmental groups did receive from Bobby a gentlemens agreement where he promised he would replace mangroves, put up a high wall to block out the views of a boat yard and plant ornamental trees and plants outside the wall. Also, an agreement that his boat yard would be closed on sundays to give the residents peace of any noise hindrance on that day. However, it is a fact that a sizable chunk of the Lagoon will be filled again by this developer as other developers are also doing around the lagoon.

The Kool Baai Residents are also saying that the area infront of the Kool Baai villas was never supposed to be filled, to their knowledge what they were told it was supposed to be the area where the boat yard itself was going to be located, next to them. Now they are faced with the filling happening infront of their houses, they fear that their views will also be lost.

It makes no sense to have this argument between the developer and the residents as this can turn into a heated argument as happened during the meeting when the developer showed up. The government departments should have been there, as it is their job and duty to make sure all is going accordingly. They could have explained what the developer is doing right or wrong and they could have listened to the drainage problem.

As it stands right now, it seems that developers get a permit in their hand, more times than not, developers make changes to the plans, in many cases they do not follow what their permits allow them and our Public Works department never checks or follow up on these large building sites.

There is also another problem, while the residents are targeting Bobby as he happens to be in their view, a boat yard next door that has been in operation for approx. 7 years does not have a hindrance permit, that site has been filled and their piers are also way out in the lagoon and it seems that the same owners of this boat yard is now constructing a ware house almost next door to the Kool Baai villas. And again no one from Public Works goes to make sure that the construction of the warehouse has permits and what do you do with the next door boatyard that has no hindrance permit when they had Bobby waiting for 2 years for his hindrance permit?

Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation

Why haven't I seen any letters in the media recently informing the public of what is going on in Colebay? I have just had a peek at this web site after a month or so and am now aware once more about the Bobby issue, but if I had not read the letters on here, I would not have thought about it again as I was under the impression that all was settled with the residents months ago. Why not bombard the papers with Letters and photos to get some attention from the public? If I was a bit more informed about the specifics and this was going on behind my own home and jeopardizing my water rights I would want everyone to know about it even if there may be little we can do legally. In the very least it may make Velasquez respond to the allegations.

Is there a media on the island? I don't think I have read any articles where the media actually ask any questions. Everything is a direct statement.
I don't think the media/reporters know how to ask questions or get answers. They certainly aren't persistant like they should be. It seems that if someone makes a statement their response is "OK, I'll write that, sounds good to me".
I think if the media would do their job then it would help the locals have a better understanding about what is really going on.
It is their job and duty to keep the public informed, I don't think they have figured that out yet.

Not media articles, but public letters to the editor. Even if Mercedes' numerous letters have not stopped the Dolphinarium alltogether, they surely have made the public aware which has in turn caused delays to the whole project.
So, my point was to bombard the Herald and Today with Letters.
When I tackled the Pelican Resort garbage issue last year, our best weapon of attack was the letters in the papers. Bad publicity works!

That one of the problems with organising residents of Cole Bay Villas to protest this new plan by Bobby is that at least one if not more are either employed by Bobby, or are cutting their own private deals with him. It creates an air of mistrust amongst them.

Another little bird tells me that Dollison (Public works??) has visited the site and that photos were taken of the filling, the car park and even the warehouse going up in the other boatyard. For the album maybe? Or will something come of it?

If either of those little birds feel the need to tell us more they can email me at flippersxm at yahoo dot com.

This photo was sent to me, but no date as to when it was taken. It doesn't show any filling infront of the villas as far as I can make out. Does it signify the extent of the planned filling or is it part of a dock?

Oh, and I think the barge in the background of the photo in the above blog post is this one here which are in my lagoon article in Feb.

Lovely Jubly!

Flipper

The above photo is as recent as last week.
That road in the picture is already filled in lagoon, that is the road coming from Island water world.
That road happens to be infront of the Cole Bay villas.
So their water front has already been filled in.
They knew that was going to happen because with that road they also get free parking.
However, the strip of rocks you see in the picture being filled in to the lagoon is not something they knew about, infact that is why they are pissed.
And that strip is not the end of the story, because that strip will be filled in across another few land lots where Velasquez says he has water rights.
So while the residents was o.k with the land being filled for a road, they were under the impression that the water front of the road would have mangroves. and their lagoon view would be preserved.
with this filling they will not have so much of a nice Lagoon view anymore.
Now it seems that the mangroves will be replanted in a tiny corner area, next to the Italian boatyard and marina (which has no hindrance permit) a peice of land that does not even belong to Bobby.
Your second photo shows an old barge that is located at the Italian boat yard which has no hindrance permit to operate.
This Italian boatyard is located next to island water World, and only became visible from land when Bobby filled in the lagoon to make the road from island water world to the Cole Bay Villas then to his boatyard.
You are right about an employee of the Bobby Marina living and owning houses in Cole Bay villas, some of the residents feel that they cannot trust him as he is there to protect this whole boatyard interest.

And speaking of the Lagoon Flipper, have you heard anything about any building on Gros Ilet in the Lagoon (sorry to stray from the Bobby saga)? A kayaker mentioned to me last week that he noticed iron rods placed around the coast of the island and markings lining up these posts as if for a building site?
This little island is supposedly protected by the French Nature Association, or whatever they are called, yet we have contacted them on numerous occasions in regards to the garbage and squatters on the island without any success. If anyone knows what the plans are for Gros Ilet, please let me know!

Susy

Then they could be taken to either Kadaster or planning dept and shown whilst asking questions about what is going on over there.

Flipper

This letter was sent today to the Daily Herald, it seems no one has yet seen the permits for the filling Bobby is doing or planning.

They have also started filling in at the other end.

Has anyone seen or have a plan or artists drawing about what is actually going to be being built and done at this site?

Flipper