The injunction is the latest volley in a two-year vendetta between the developer and longtime residents of the near-pristine island that forms the northeast boundary of George Town’s Elizabeth Harbour.
Construction of the resort will be halted pending the hearing of a lawsuit calling for judicial review of government permissions. The permits to excavate a lagoon for a 15-slip marina and build cottages and a restaurant along the beach were issued in 2002.
The property is being developed by wealthy South African boat builder George Godfrey, who bought the two-acre site three years ago. Mr Godfrey is the principal in St. Francis Catamarans, which custom-builds luxury yachts that are exported around the world.
He told The Guardian on Tuesday that the St. Francis Resort & Marina on Stocking Island was well on the way to completion. “The idea is to fly in clients to look at our two catamaran models that will be berthed here. After we custom-build the boats in South Africa, the clients will take delivery of them in The Bahamas.”
The legal challenge was initiated by well-known Exuma resident Howland Bottomley, commodore emeritus of the Exuma Regatta, who lives on the island. He was joined by Stocking Island Ltd., a non-profit trust that owns 140 acres, and other property owners who formed the ad hoc Coalition for the Protection and Conservation of Stocking Island.
Today, their lawyer is Freeport’s Maurice Glinton. The case was a cause celebre before the last general election. Koed Smith, now chairman of the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission, represented Mr. Bottomley until July, 2002.
According to Mr. Godfrey, whose lawyer is former Bahamas National Trust president Pericles Maillis, environmental assessments have been conducted and approvals obtained under two different governments. The Stocking Island residents, meanwhile, say he is carelessly destroying an almost pristine island that is a big attraction for scuba divers and others.
In a letter to the Department of Fisheries in July, 2002, Brian Kakuk of the Bahamas Caves Research Foundation, complained of “massive amounts of silt” being poured into the island’s submarine caves as a result of the marina dredging.
Mr. Godfrey received permission to excavate a 32,000-square-foot marine area at Gaviota Bay on the western side of Stocking Island. But the writ filed by Mr. Glinton cited the Minister of Health, the Director of Physical Planning and the Exuma District Council for “failure to discharge their duties” to protect the environment.
Stocking Island is an environmentally sensitive area that is an important ecotourism resource. It has miles of beaches with undisturbed dunes, a large variety of birdlife, and healthy near-shore reefs. It is sparsely settled.
According to Frommer’s Guide”This long, thin barrier island has some of the most gorgeous white-sand beaches in The Bahamas. Snorkelers and scuba divers come here to explore the blue holes, and it is ringed with undersea caves and coral gardens.”
The writ said property owners and residents of Stocking Island were not involved “in any process of consultation, before or after the start of dredging operations”
They say they want “to preserve a unique coastal marine environment and other wildlife and their sanctuaries as a natural heritage”.
But Mr. Godfrey says he now tells fellow developers that, “while the Bahamian government and the Bahamian people are friendly, it’s the foreign residents you have to watch out for.”
By Larry Smith, The Nassau Guardian
