Even with all parties awaiting a decision from the recent Supreme Court case involving the Passerine Development at Guana Cay, the Save Guana Cay Reef Association is making another legal move, which it hopes would land the developers in jail.
The Association, which is represented by Grand Bahama attorney, Fred Smith, is accusing the developers of breaching their voluntary undertaking to halt their development while the court considers the substantive case.
In a letter to Mr. Smith on November 22, 2005, which was copied to the registrar of the Court of Appeal and the Office of the Attorney General, the developers said they shall not cut, tear down or remove any vegetation or trees; disturb or remove any mangrove or wetlands; excavate or dredge the land or seabed; erect any further buildings or structures on the land; or construct or pave any further roads.
The Association says in a court document that the developers should be committed to Her Majesty’s Prison “for their contempt of this Honourable Court in breaching the developers’ undertaking dated November 22, 2005.”
The Association, which has already sought leave to apply for the committal order, claims in the document that the developers have done all of what they said they would not do.
“The officers and directors of the developers have throughout had knowledge and notice of the undertaking,” the Association says, “not least because it must be inferred that they instructed their counsel to give the undertaking.”
In an affidavit, Troy Albury, a landowner and resident of Guana Cay who has been on the frontline of the fight to block the resort development, swears that since the undertaking was given, three developments have taken place.
“To my knowledge and belief the developers have in fact breached their undertaking since the date it was given and accepted by the Court of Appeal,” Mr. Albury states.
He also claimed that he took a number of photographs at the site of the development which showed work continuing there.
“Since the date of the undertaking, I have on a number of occasions observed a number of surveyors, equipped with cutlasses, surveying the land for the development,” Mr. Albury further states.
“I believe that the surveyors use their cutlasses to remove trees and vegetation in order to carry out their surveying. I further believe that this is a breach of the undertaking not to cut, tear down, or remove any vegetation or trees.”
He claims that just two weeks after the undertaking, he observed that work was continuing at the burning pit site.
“Although I recall the developers saying to the Court of Appeal there was still some material which had already been cut down and which was to be burnt, the extent and volume of the continuing burning suggests to me that it is not just residual burning that is occurring,” Mr. Albury states.
He also claims that the effect of all the continuing works at the site has been devastating to the local environment and “our traditional rights of usage”.
In the affidavit, Mr. Albury states that the photographs he took show erosion to the beach following the removal by the developers of the vegetation which joined the beach.
“My family, and many other residents of Guana Cay, have, since the establishment of fences and barriers along the perimeter of the Crown or Treasury land, been prevented entry thereto and also because there are security officers patrolling the perimeters we have been periodically refused entry and have been unable even to walk along the coastline to access the beaches, traditional crabbing grounds and other areas where we have crabbed, picked fruits such as cocoa plum and sea grapes and otherwise used the areas both below and above high water mark traditionally,” he further claims.
Mr. Albury, who lives on Guana Cay with his wife and two daughters, claims that it appears that the developers are occupying and using the Crown and Treasury lands, which are held for public purposes.
The Guana Cay trial concluded on February 23. The Association has asked the court to determine that Cabinet Secretary Wendel Major had no authority to enter with a heads of agreement with the developers on behalf of the Bahamian people.
The Association also contends that Crown Land and Treasury Land cannot be given for a private development.
In response to the Association’s latest maneuver, the developers said the Association was again seeking to delay employment of Bahamians and meaningful development in The Bahamas by rehashing alleged violations of voluntary undertakings by the developers of the Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club.
“The Baker’s Bay Project categorically denies all of the alleged violations and is disappointed in the actions of SGCR Association which we feel amounts to unwarranted harassment,” the developers said in a release.
“The Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club shares the concerns of all Bahamians for the environment and protection of the corals and reefs that are key components of the natural resources of The Bahamas. To say and or portray otherwise in the manner frequently done by SGCR is a misrepresentation of the truth and a travesty.”
The developers reiterated: “Baker’s Bay will be the most environmentally sensitive development in the world. Clearly, it would not be in the project’s best interest to harm the environment and we are taking very careful, proven, and appropriate steps to safeguard the environment in and around Baker’s Bay. We are more than prepared to share our environmental safeguard plans with all interested parties.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
